high_octane wrote: ↑Tue Apr 14, 2020 3:14 am
We need a solution where:
- the content is decentralized
- the downloads are easily locatable (all on one page)
- the content is sortable (but that is a nicety)
What you are describing is a solution which we already have i.e torrenting. We even have a proper pinned thread for that. It's not up-to-date now I know but still... It's just a question of someone taking it over just as doremi did recently with the HD downloads thread. What you did not include in your list of requirements is:
One of the most famous examples in this community is the recovery of boob's Fake Tits Lovers Series (in their original quality of course). There were torrents for that series but they are already long dead. I had those CHs in my private collection, but unfortunately I have lost them as well. There's a tiny chance of recovering them if I find my old RAID matrix... but this is another story...
What I'm trying to say is that in my opinion we need some kind of a hybrid centralized and decentralized solution i.e peer-to-peer and client-server. While I am a true believer in the power of peer-to-peer decentralization I've seen it failing in the long term as well. I remember I was excited for the Joost project a p2p IPTV streaming solution based on FastTrack network, the experiment to add streaming capability to Bittorrent protocol (forgot the name of the project from the top of my head) or a peer-to-peer YouTube like solution PeerTube. But all of these solutions really didn't grow (only stayed on some kind of experimental level). Dead public torrents for CH files I have already described as examples are also an example of non-recoverable loss, but I'm sure there are many more. CH torrents on Empornium are more healthy because of the incentive system, but are not accessible to everyone, so not everyone can contribute and take advantage of that.
But all that rant is not in vain as I would like to share a solution just to start a discussion of how book_guy's sharing zones could be replaced. It's not a great solution but some of you may be inspired to give better ideas. I propose to take a look at Freenet. It's a peer-to-peer sharing platform for content, but I think it's more robust overtime. The content stays on the network as long as from time to time someone accesses it. In a few words it works like this: if you access the content you take part in sharing it at least partially. What I mean that this content stays on your local hard drive and other content from Freenet as well, but you have no idea which content you share because it is encrypted and distributed in parts among users of Freenet. This is what makes the content resilient and gives longevity. The minus of it is that you have to install Freenet software and there have to be enough users of this system to work properly, because if the content is rare it works very slowly. Hell it works slowly even for popular content as it has to retrieve it from all over the Freenet. I haven't yet researched if storing of large files such as CH videos is viable there... Just an idea that maybe is worth exploring.
Another thing to consider in client-server solutions, why rare video content disappears, is that ultimately someone has to pay for storage space and bandwidth, and I haven't seen lately revolutionizing technologies in storage space. Especially now in COVID-19 reality we are all competing for internet resources. Even NetFlix and YouTube have reduced bitrate for HD videos to save bandwidth.
Now on the more positive side, I think what we have achieved in this community: a cyberlocker, torrent and streaming environment is quite healthy, but a bit challenging to maintain overtime.
...and that's just one of several reasons why takedowns exist. 
