April 12, 2008 by sharky
Most people assume that RSS feeds are the best method to stay up-to-date with the latest torrents on a private tracker. This is a fallacy. With RSS, your computer/browser must request an update from the feed - typically this is set to every 15 minutes (with the shortest pull-time being 5 minutes). And that’s even if the site supports RSS - not all do.
Now, you can try running through all of the site’s torrent categories to try to keep up with the latest content, or sit in one category and constantly hit the browser’s ‘Refresh’ button like an idiot. Both of these methods work to beat out the RSS feed.
Or, you can join the private tracker’s IRC (pre) channel and watch the latest torrents being announced on-the-fly, and simply click the links as they appear. Most modern private sites use an IRC “pre-chan” to announce the torrents before (as) they get published on the site. This is beneficial in two ways:
— You’ll get instant access to the most recent torrents, typically in advance of most other site members who aren’t in the IRC channel. Unless, of course, they’re forever reloading the pages…
— This is also a great tactic for getting into the uploading swarm as early as possible. If you get in a torrent very early, everyone else jumping on it after you will use your completed parts, thus your upload rate will be higher for longer.
IRC is also a great way to gain credits or other site ‘currency’ just for being in the channel.
Joining IRC Pre-channels
Most private torrent sites are restrictive to who they let into their IRC channels. For obvious reasons such as security, they’ll only allow users who are registered with the tracker to join their channels. Therefore, it’s not quite the same as joining a public site - the procedures are a little trickier.
To join their IRC channel, most sites will have an IRC link somewhere, sometimes accompanied by rudimentary instructions on how to join. Through my experience, I’ve not seen it properly documented, not even in the support forums (although I’m sure something like this must have been done somewhere).
In-Browser IRC Channels
Many private sites make their IRC channel available on-site through a java applet in the browser window. This is the simplest method of connecting, but not all sites offer it. Just click the IRC or Chat link, click “Login” and the chat window opens as an extension of the browser.
New torrents are announced in this window, and are usually distinctive and easily recognized from regular channel messages.
External IRC Channels (mIRC)
There are slight variations to the steps (depending on the site) but here’s the general idea. For the remainder, it’s assumed you have an account at a private tracker, and have mIRC already installed on your PC. For this example, I’ll use mIRC.
1. Look for an IRC / IRC Chat link.
Check your private site for an IRC link, sometimes called IRC Chat or just Chat. Click it - this will launch your mIRC program.
2. Reg your Nick.
First thing to do is register yourself with the server in the IRC client (mIRC or XChat). To do this, type in this line in the mIRC prompt:
/msg nickserv register <password> <email address>
You’ll need to supply a password (without the brackets) and a valid email address. As an example, it should appear like this (in the bottom of the screenshot):
Some sites are more secure than others, as in the case with ScT. You’ll also need to enter an invite “msg” with your site username and passcode. Usually the link is provided for you to do so, after registering with the nickserv. If not, use your passkey from your profile, or PM / email a site admin for assistance. The path in the will look similar to this:
3. Joining Channels.
Once registered with the IRC server, you’ll now be able to join channels. Some sites give a list of available channels; others do not (or they’re hard to find). If not, in mIRC go to TOOLS > Channels List… and select “Get List“.
4. Downloading.
Not difficult at all. Simply wait in the chat window. The fresh torrents will be easy to distinguish from the rest of the channel messages. Here’s an example:
IRC “Tracer” Channels
A ‘Tracer’ Channel is one that ‘traces’ (or follows) known new scene-releases, and reports which tracker won “the race” to have a new release posted first. What makes a tracer channel different from a “pre-channel” is that the former offers a more-or-less complete list of competing trackers for each proper release. Pre-times are displayed for each release for each competing tracker - although no direct downloading can be done. Idle chatting is often forbidden in a tracer channel.
IRC Scripts (IRC AutoDownloader)
There are a variety of IRC scripts that fully automate the downloading process for newly announced torrents into the BitTorrent client (without having to sit in the channel waiting for the torrents to be announced). However, I feel there’s no point in documenting it because most scripts are completely customized to work with one particular site — it’d be more work to explain how to change them to work for any (generic) site. Having said that, check the forums of your private BT site - they may have a custom script fit for them. The forums at ScT have some great auto-downloading solutions for all platforms, including straight to a seedbox.
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