marvindy wrote:Okey, so i have a question. Does empornium have something that you cant find on other sites, or it just has more of the same? Ive been sniffing around the idea of getting it, and I dont understand why its "private" and still manages to be "the best". I want to check it out. Can you guys help me?
Since you asked, here are the things that I think make Empornium a great tracker, in order of their importance to me. Some other trackers may have one or two of these as well, but I haven't found any others that do all of this:
But quickly, before I begin listing what I think the PROs are of Empornium, first let me touch on the big CON everyone is talking about. Of course, that is the fact that registration has been closed for, what, about a year now on Empornium. According to information posted by admins in the discussion forum on Empornium, they detected that a hacker had gained access to some user data, and they closed registration until they could determine the nature of the information the hacker got access to, as well as the method that was used, so they could fix and block similar attacks in the future. One they identified what had happened (someone got access to an admin username and password) they took steps to resolve the issue, but for some reason they haven't re-opened registration yet. I think they realized that they had too many users for their system, and they're waiting for that number to drop a bit from attrition before they open it up again. I also think I read that when they open again, it won't be with completely open registration like it had before, but that they'll implement an invitation system. But as far as I can tell, there is no invitation system currently in place, so it isn't going to do any good to ask for an invite here. There is simply no way I (or I assume most other users of Empornium) could help you until that invitation system is in place and turned on.
Another CON that I've seen other users here mention is that after some time (I don't know the interval, but it's probably a few weeks, or months) if you haven't logged in to your account it will be suspended or disabled. Personally, that hasn't been a problem for me because I visit both Milovana and Empornium about every night, but for users who visit less frequently, it can be a problem. (However, it's easy to see that that this "feature" actually helps speed up the attrition rate of users who infrequently use the site, to make room for new users and hasten the re-opening of registration... at least in theory.)
Yet another CON that people point out is that it is a closed tracker that requires that you maintain a certain ratio of bytes uploaded (or seeded) to bytes downloaded (or leeched) and some people see that requirement as a pain. I won't go into detail about that here, because I actually list it as a PRO in my list of PROs. See my PRO number 3 to see why.
OK, having covered the CONs, here is my list of PROs:
1. Presentation of content. Most other trackers I've used have a title for the available torrents. That's it. Some have a line of text describing what it is, and maybe a category. Empornium REQUIRES a good text description AND screenshots of the content, and this is enforced because if a torrent presentation doesn't have all of the required elements, the torrent is placed in a suspended mode until the presentation is "fixed". Most also have meta information about the file or files themselves. For a video, this includes run length, resolution, frames per second, etc. I find all of this information INVALUABLE in deciding what to download and what to skip (especially the screen shots). Most of us don't have unlimited storage space or unlimited bandwidth, after all, and even if I did, I'd still want to be a little picky about what I download. On most other trackers, making this decision is more difficult, because you're working with more limited information.
2. The tagging feature. This is one of the things that really sets Empornium apart. When a user uploads a new torrent, they pick a default category, the same as most other trackers. So, if I want to find a good video featuring a porn star with a big ass, I can look at the "Big Ass" category. However, maybe the big-assed porn star was engaging in anal sex in the video, and the uploader put the video in the "Anal" category. Tags help you get around that problem. Even though a video has a category it was uploaded to, multiple tags can still be assigned to it. So this video might have "anal" as well as "big.ass" as tags, even though it is in the Anal category. If I search on the "big.ass" tag, I'll find every upload that tag was assigned to, no matter what category it was uploaded to.
One common use of tags is to tag each of the actors that appear in the video. Usually, either the uploader will do this, or other users will add those tags soon after. So, if you discover a new porn star and want to find everything they're in across all categories, it's pretty easy.
Tags become even more powerful when you combine them in a search. My default search actually has the following tags in it (and then I modify it depending on what I am seeking):
1080p ffm -european -condom -shemale -gay -pegging -puke -scat -prolapse -transsexual -mega.pack -siterip -manuel.ferrara -couples.seeking.teens -incest -mature -older.younger -julia.ann -solo -bonnie.rotten -cumshot.surprise -fake.cum -fake.cumshot
The way multiple tags work in a search is that they ALL must be present in a torrent (or if the character '-' comes before the tag, then that tag must be ABSENT from the torrent for it to match). So in my default search above, I'm looking for videos with a resolution of 1080p that feature two females and one male. Additionally, I don't want it to be returned in my search results if the actors use condoms, or if the theme is incest, or if it features one of the porn actors I don't usually care for, etc. You get the idea. As you can see, tags can be combined in powerful ways to really zero in on what you're looking for and filter out what you are not. Parenthesis and boolean operators can also be used, so, for example, if I wanted my search results to include both 1080p AND 720p videos, then instead of just the 1080p tag I would use "(1080p | 720p)". Additionally, tags can be added by ANY user after the torrent has been added to the site, and existing tags can be voted up or down based on their appropriateness for the particular upload. So, if the uploader gets the tags wrong, that can be remedied by the sites users. Enough downvotes and a tag will drop off the torrent, so the community itself can make tags even more useful.
3. Tracker is private. By private, I don't mean "closed registration". (I covered that problem earlier in this post.) What I mean by private is that each user logs in, and has an identity on the tracker, rather than just using it anonymously. That allows Empornium to do useful things that public and anonymous trackers can't do. At the most basic level, that includes being able to calculate the ratio of bytes uploaded to bytes downloaded for that user. That helps incentivize people to be good members of the community and maybe more importantly, helps torrents live longer and have a healthier swarm. Torrents uploaded to Empornium are often available years later, and if you ever find one that's no longer seeded, a single click will send a system message to all users who have previously downloaded the torrent asking them to seed it again if they are able.
Another thing they can do because the tracker is private is give users "credits" for doing certain things, such as seeding an otherwise poorly seeded torrent. These credits can be spent on a number of things. You can spend credits to improve your ratio, or you can gift them to another user. You can also put credits up as a "bounty" on a torrent request, so that if a user uploads that torrent he will get the bounty of credits associated with the request.
I'm going to wrap up this long post now. I suspect that some may see me as an Empornium shill, but I'm just a satisfied user. I've been using it ever since Cheggit went away. Empornium has a lot of the same features that existed on Cheggit (especially the high standards on presentations) and I think that helped Empornium get most of the old Cheggit user base. And finally, I'll repeat that I'm sorry there isn't a way for new users to get on Empornium right now, and I hope that is remedied because new users are essential for the health and longevity of a closed tracker, and also because I feel for you guys who aren't currently on there.
