What's Up With Rapidshare? + New File Hosts

There has been a lot of discussion concerning Rapidshare and the new file hosts added at phun on June 27, 2010. Hopefully, this thread will address some of the questions and concerns. So, here are my opinions and thoughts on the Rapidshare changes that were enacted on June 29,2010...

References:

Code:

http://www.rapidshare.com/news.html
http://torrentfreak.com/rapidshare-kills-reward-program-over-piracy-concerns-100620/

Other Relevant phun Threads:
http://forum.phun.org/showthread.php?t=502933
http://forum.phun.org/showthread.php?t=504525
http://forum.phun.org/showthread.php?t=505512

Rapidshare has changed from a file sharing model (users upload files/post links and share with a large anonymous audience) to a file storage model (user uploads files and shares with a limited specific audience - generally as a backup medium or in a business setting). This is inferred from their new pricing scheme and discontinuation of the "rewards programs", as well as from media reports alluding to this fact. There are even quotes from current and former employees stating that Rapidshare is "actively discouraging file sharing."

Also, there are hints in the media that Rapidshare executives have been in discussions with entertainment industry executives regarding file sharing and copyright issues. Does anyone remember napster? This sounds eerily similar, and in fact, if you have a premium account at Rapidshare, there is a new (unmentioned) feature/app called the RS Media Player. We can infer that this may be a precursor to some sort of "pay-per-view content deal" for music and/or videos that may be in the works.

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There are also hints in the media that Rapidshare is actively participating with the aforementioned entertainment execs to "stamp out the pirates". Again, does anyone remember napster and the associated legal actions against some of its users? I do. And, it makes me a little nervous. So nervous, in fact, that I will not be hosting any new "file sharing" content on Rapidshare servers. And, I will be deleting most (or all) of the files I currently have hosted there (this is also due to the pricing plans that are more expensive based on the amount of data you have stored).

I was probably one of the biggest Rapidshare fans over the past several years. I used their file sharing service exclusively, and I'm sad to see them (effectively) leave this market. I still have a Rapidshare premium account, although I'm not exactly sure how much value it has. There may still be some new content available, but I expect the number of links (of all kinds) to become more scarce as uploaders assess their own situations.

Personally, I am moving on to other alternative file sharing hosts. Who will "win" the battle for former Rapidshare customers? Your guess is as good as mine, but one thing is certain. Nature always shows us that you "adapt or perish" - and I'm pretty good at adapting. Keep this in mind as we move forward and we will likely find the "next Rapidshare". Have patience and, hopefully, everything will work out in the end.

Lastly, as many of you have noticed, phun has added two new filehosts - Hotfile and SharingMatrix (recently renamed to FileSonic). There was much internal discussion before we added these new hosts. Our goal was to provide a couple of alternatives to the existing filehosts, to bridge the gap we saw coming from the "Rapidshare Vacuum".

We know that change is not always an easy thing, but once again, patience is a virtue. And, please understand that the phun staff is actively monitoring the filehost situation and we will adapt as we go forward.

Thanks!

gHe


PS - your comments and/or suggestions are encouraged

PPS - to all our USA based users - HAPPY 4th of July!

 

Thanks for the info gHe, change is inevitable.

 

Understood and also, understood that there is little if anything Phun can do about the situation beyond what is being done, BUT, I personally have noticed a definite shift in the 'flavor' of things here at Phun since the new hosts have been approved and I have to say that it's not all to the good, time will tell though I suppose.

 

^ please provide some SPECIFIC info on what has changed - in your opinion.

We are listening...

FYI - I will be semi-unavailable over the holiday weekend (I'm heading to the lake, partying), but I will have access to phun via a netbook - pending coverage area - or a trip into town with wireless access . I *may* not be able to respond for a couple of days, but there are other mods / admins available and monitoring this thread - and they are ALL keenly aware of the issues.

gHe

 

Ok... specifics....

Posts with horrible descriptions/titles
A LOT of older 'clips'
A lot of shorter cut-up clips
Lower quality clips with little-known/unknown 'stars'

Those are some of the soecifics, added into this is the sheer volume of these things diluting the quality stuff that IS posted.

I'm a Phunner for life, just a few observations on the new situation. Not necessarily complaints, I'll be here regardless but there IS a change going on.

 

Lot of RS links will probably go dead from people no longer using their accounts. But I haven't noticed yet if there's any set policy about whether its ok to bump old threads if you have replaced your links with another host? Lot of that happening already. Or whether you can repost something if you have it on a different file host as its own topic or if it should go in the prior poster's topic?

 

Rapidshare's definitely heading the Napster route. Such a loss.
Sharingmatrix seems like an utterly awful site; every single time their annoying ten minute countdown reaches zero, I immediately get a popup saying "We're sorry, but there are still 9 minutes and 59 seconds to wait". This has happened consistently with every single file I have tried to get from that site; I have yet to be able to actually download anything from there.
If I see sharingmatrix as the host in a thread, I may as well close it again immediately because I won't be able to get the file anyway.
If I could make one suggestion, it would be PLEASE stop users from hosting stuff there. It's no fun at all to find a clip you've been after for ages, only to find that you can't actually download it after all.

 

Same for me - have opened a hotfile account which seems fine, but sharingmatrix does not seem to work . .

 

What's the deal with Hotfile? Have they got a rewards program like Rapidshare used to?

 

No, they don't have a similar program. They pay for the downloads and you can buy a premium account using this money:
One day premium membership $3
Three days premium membership $5
One month premium membership $9
Six months premium membership $35
One year $55

 

So Rapidshare wants to kill off 90% of their customer base?. Oh well, time for the next file host in line... IE Hotfile.

 

I wouldn't mind some Gestapo style enforcement in the Sexy Vids section for a while. Diluted is the perfect word. I've switched to HF but only posted a handful of vids that are new and personally split and uploaded by me.

 

I would think the lack of comments in the threads where members have used Sharingmatrix is really all you need to know about how that host is working out. There is little or no response at all to them, that pretty much means one thing - people aren't downloading the files.

 

I have to agree, and most of these posts come from new members or lost-postcount members.

It appears to me that Phun isn't the same since these changes, since most of the posts are now literally spammed out there without much effort put into it, hence why there is so many reposts.

 

I used to be a HUGE RS fan and would only download if files were from RS.
But since this new point structure was added, I have somewhat moved away from it.

I bought myself a 1 month hotfile account and so far it has been great.
Good speeds, use of accelerators .. and their yearly fee seems very reasonable.
Other sites are also moving to HF.

I would strongly suggest that the admin and mods enfore tagging of the title to help users know what file is hosted where.

EG ... (HF) or (RS) or etc in the title.

.

 

I was also a big fan of Rapidshare but I guess the time has come to move on. How come all the fuss is over Hotfile and Sharingmatrix and no attention to MegaUpload? out of the three it seems MU is the pick of the little and nobody seems to be liking Sharingmatrix-

 

Looking at some of the other comments and some of the discussions ongoing with other regulars on the board I have to say I think it would be MUCH better to ditch Sharingmatrix altogether and place a heavy emphasis on MegaUpload as 1st choice host with hotfile possibly still allowed depending on how things go after such a change is made. I just don't see SM being viable for phun AT ALL, frankly it's just horrible and it seems to be a LARGE part of the problem.

 

unlike napster, didnt they just win a major court case, why go legit?

also the 2 best alternatives are mediafire and MU imo (fast speeds and large file hosting)

 

Main complaints about SM are people who use a lousy browser or addon that doesn't let them download properly from them. I don't use it as my primary host but its a great mirror option. You can remote upload as a free user (MU you have to be Premium) to them from any of the other popular hosts and offer a variety of options for free downloaders to get each file from a different host while they are stuck waiting on one of the other hosts.

Never got a file temporarily unavailable message from SM like MU & MF have all the time because their servers can't handle all the downloads or whatever their problem is. That will get worse now as more people use them instead of RS.

 

Blaming other people's browsers which work perfectly well with other hosts is a complete cop-out, SM is a bullshit host which is used primarily by cashwhore posters and I can see it slowly ruining phun, I for one hope it gets re-banned and the sooner the better.