I really like what you've done. Torrent sites never had a clean look, and you are making it first. You are trying to make the world suck less, and i dig that. keep up the good work, and I really hope you can establish a legitimate business model based on this.
I thought of the exact same idea about 3 years ago. I didn't pursue it due to other circumstances (i.e. being far too busy), so I'm glad to see someone is taking it forward. I wish you the best of luck. The quality of the service and not to mention your website looks stunning. And that's what it takes to really make it!
My motivations were fairly pure, wanted to build a platform that gave citizens more power. Also thought there could be a way to monetize (ethically) with traction.
Got some press in the early days, and believe the problem is other than exposure. The site just isn't filling a need. Need to come up with something people really want.
Thank you! Yes, I'm trying to make that happen. There is definitely a higher quality than quantity on the site right now, which I like, and people who use it seem happy, so that's nice :) Spreading the word without spending a fortune is my biggest problem to solve it seems.
I’m glad more and more people, from both here and on Reddit (similar discussions appear sporadically) are beginning to notice. I actually have most of these links already favorited haha.
I hope your startup pans out well. Thanks for doing your part to make the internet less terrible!
The site is still raw but I decided to put it up to get feedback. It's a file marketplace mixed with a referral system. I think people should be rewarded for sharing.
Thank you! I found your site long ago and I’ve enjoyed every article. I often wondered what your plan for it was and would be. This puts a little closure on it. I feel the same way about advertising and wonder what alternate business models could happily maintain such a place while keeping it mostly free and open.
It really does help motivate me to hear people get value from my work, because it definitely isn't financially motivated at this point.
I appreciate the offer of premium members only payments. I want my data to be public, I like open sourcing my contributions when possible. I think transparency and openness are the key to better reviews. So I've not ever approached that route. I've also avoided taking any sponsored money from web hosting for any sort of advertising because of even the potential conflict of interest (many have offered to sponsor those benchmarks).
There might be something in the works to help it financially this year, nothing really concrete, but I'm exploring some new options. Ultimately though, I'd rather it wither and die than just doing what every shitty affiliate ruining the space has done.
I've been following this since launch, and the regular updates with subscriber/revenue numbers are honestly one of the more interesting parts of the service. It's weirdly meta, but watching you build a thing to help other people build things really gives me this itch to...build something myself.
Basically, I'm saying you've invented the perfect pornography for entrepreneurs. Keep it up!
Thanks Peter. Coming from someone who has been there, it means a lot.
The reasons I am doing it is I am an average developer who doesn't have any interesting ideas but who wants to foray into entrepreneurship and be his own boss. I considered a lot of free services which would rely on ads to generate revenue but I they didn't seem beneficial in terms of monetization.
So, I just thought about a lot of paid service and settled down on something which has plausible profitability. I am not copying shopify but there sure would be many features which work in the same way; after all, the ground premise is the same. I do have some differentiators but it's too early to call on them.
tl;dr My idea is not original or extra-ordinary; I am an average developer looking to be my own boss and this suited me the best.
Throwing in my kudos. This is such a needed kind of site. What is your business model? If you can't spill the beans due to seeking funding, I understand completely.
Thanks! Really appreciate this.. always righting tiny things here and there, but only few I feel at all condifent to post on here :P
I certainly can write an bit about how/why I made it - Will send a link across when it's done.
Around monetisation, don't think that I'd ever bother. The cost of running it is next to nothing and would rather spend time working on new projects than having to deal with advertising and all that
Congrats on following through on your goal, and for shipping! Really cool idea. The service may not be for everyone, but ones who use it may become fanatics. There are definitely regulatory issues with this in my mind, probably for all of the US and many other countries as well, but one thing I love about the Internet is how it challenges and sometimes breaks conventional models and rules.
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