Poll: If we were to allow Depositfiles as an approved host?.............

Um that limit INCREASES for each file you try to d/l as a free user. The first file you can d/l instantly as a free user. The 2nd one you have to wait 15 minutes for. The third one you have to wait 30 minutes for. The 4th one you have to wait 45 minutes. The 5th one and every file after that you have to wait an hour for. This is from my experience at least because that's how it worked when I attempted to d/l an HD video that was split into 8 parts. Oh yeah and FWIW I didn't even get all 8 parts because the frickin' thing was deleted for a DMCA violation before I could. Go figure. Just another reason Hotfile needs to be banned from here.

 

so where are all those new posts now? I don't see them at all in this forum

 

I'll have to try Oron again and give it a go. Last time I had premium Oron the downloads capped at about 500kb
so I stuck to just having a free account there.
Thats terrible news about MediaFire, sad to see them turn into Hotfile.
I have megashares premium and its been giving me about 1.5 to 3megs a second which is very fast considering Rapidshare premium only gives me 100kb to 1meg.
Mainly use it to download TV show episodes in HD.

 

The people who normally upload them normally use a cash paying host. They're simply waiting and hoping that another true cash host (pay per download style) gets approved before they post anything. But if phun does the right thing and doesn't allow a host that pays, IMO at least, there will be users that use whatever hosts get approved (or RapidShare as it's still a quality host regardless of what some may believe) to post that content. That's the way it was before phun ever allowed Hotfile or FileSonic here, people posted on the non-paying hosts just for the sake of sharing.

 

Hotfile is a constant 15 second wait and a 30 minute cooldown time after your download finishes. It doesn't go up nor down, it is static throughout.

Rapidshare is a fine host for uploaders and a terrible host for downloaders. Until there are new hosts approved there won't be any new content on this forum.

 

Please Approve New host..........many uploader waiting ?

 

Do you even realize that people have started uploading on many other hosts right now but are just not sharing on this forum, so do you think everyone is waiting for this forum to approve a cash paying host and if admins here don't they will start uploading on non paying hosts? Just visit other forums where new hosts are now allowed and see for yourself.
This is a great forum no doubt but people are not going to upload on mediafire and others just because phun doesn't approve cash paying hosts. You need to open your eyes and see whats happening with this forum, you are saying something that doesn't make any sense.

And rapidshare a quality host? come on man, rapidcrap was only good when filesonic was around because nobody was using them much, the moment filesonic went down I knew rapidcrap would be like before when they had every possible limitation for free users, how can you even justify 30kb speed on rapidcrap? even a moronic host like extabit or oron gives better speed now. That is just pure nonsense.

 

Yeah and what happens in a couple months when those cash paying hosts go down the shitter like meagupload, filesonice and eventually hotfile? We're back stuck in this exact same situation. Any host that offers a cash reward for the upload and download of copyrighted material will face the same fate that FileSonic and MegaUpload already have and that HotFile will eventually have. You do know that the MPAA is going after HotFile right? Why do you think some links last less than 24 hours and most are gone within 48?

And RapidShare IS a quality host when compared to the other hosts. Files last a VERY long time on RapidShare (I files that are over 5 years old that are still active) and upload speeds have been great. I know some people have had issues with download speeds as a free user, I have not. I've been getting download speeds of 300kb/second as a free user, which is pretty decent and when I had enough credits built up to cash in for a premium my download speed was 1.5-2.0mb/second which is excellent for my internet connection.

I've opened my eyes to things how's about you opening your eyes. The flavor of the month like rapidgator is, is only a temporary fix. That site will see the same fate of FileSonic, MegaUpload, and HotFile; it's only a matter of time. If phun allows rapidgator and then in 2 months it's gone down the crapper like FileSonic and MegaUpload did, then what happens? Phun is back in the same boat it's currently in. If rapidgator was popular because it was simply a quality host that doesn't pay, I'd say add it. The fact that it pays means there's a much greater chance of it being shut down very quickly. I just don't want to see Phun choose the "flavor of the month" and then get burned. I want them to choose a quality host that is more likely to last a long time as opposed to picking a crappy host that's real poplular and then see that host get shut down in a short amount of time.

 

Megaupload was not paying anyone, and they were the first to go down, mediafire is deleting files as soon as you upload, rapidshare? I really don't know what to say because you are the first "free" user I came across who is getting that much speed, according to my experience and info they have limited the speed to 30kb, most of the free user will confirm this, so I don't know how you are getting this speed, but not everyone does, downloading even a 200mb file takes ages and so this host is dead.

The current situation is that nobody knows which host will stay and which will be gone.
I am saying don't approve just rapidgator, allow 4-5 other hosts, this way it will be more options and more uploaders.

 

Um yeah Megaupload was paying users. They had a rewards points program and if you collected enough points, you could redeem them for payments of $100, $250 and I do believe there was also a $500 reward as well (in addition to the cash reward, there was an extension of your premium account; the $100 reward also came with a year's premium membership, 2 years with the $250 and I believe a lifetime premium with the $500). I know this because as a former MegaUpload user, I was able to accumulate enough points to cash in for 2 or 3 of those $100 payments. While not like FileSonic or how HotFile used to be, there was financial gain for a dedicated MegaUpload user.

As for RapidShare's d/l speed for a free user, I would call it inconsistent. I've gotten d/l speeds of 300kb/second and I've also gotten d/l speeds under 100kb/second. There must be outside factors (time of day, how many people are downloading the file at the same time, location of the downloader or uploader, etc.). But let's be honest all file hosts have that. I've had that issue with HotFile when I see a file I really want and that's the only host for it and speed will fluctuate throughout the course of the download. It happens with just about every host out there.

And I am saying allow 4-5 other QUALITY hosts, no flavors of the month that won't be here for the long haul. Like Rapidshare or hate it, but the fact is it's been there and will always be here. I'm not in favor of adding hosts that pay because it will be the FileSonic situation again where this forum will be flooded with re-posts, people breaking rule for post limits, using multiple accounts to break these rules, etc. People need to share just for the sake of sharing, not to make a dollar. If people refuse to share because they can't make money off of it, then those are the types of people we don't want posting here in the first place.

If it were me I'd start with allowing DepositFiles. They no longer pay users that reside in the US and are a QUALITY host. Decent download speeds for free users and those who upload and share can get rewarded with premium memberships (they have what they call a D-Points program where you get 1 point per download and those points can be exchanged for tokens that unlock premium accounts).

 

I agree with pokerplayer and disagree with you. As pokerplayer and I both said, the volume of new posts is way down, everywhere.

What's the point of having a forum like Phun if there aren't any new good quality posts?

 

So what? At least for a few months there would be new material. No one is saying that there has to be a permanent solution. If Phun has to change the allowed file hosts every few months, so what?

http://www.geek.com/articles/news/r...e-account-speed-cap-disables-resume-20120217/

It was widely reported that RS has limited download speeds to 30KB/s for free users. I've been using RS as a free user since February, for smaller files, and have never gotten speeds above 30 KB/s.

You're the first (and only) person to report free user RS transfer speeds higher than 30 KB/s. How is that possible?

 

Yeah and it's taken how long now for Phun to add new file hosts? 2 going on 3 months? You want to go through a stretch of 2 or so months where you allow cash hosts and have the forum re-flooded with cash links, only to see all those links die, those hosts no longer being usable, AND then have another hiatus of 2 or 3 months while we wait for Phun to approve a new set of file hosts? That's completely stupid IMO. STABLE hosts are the solution, not quick fixes.

As for Rapidshare, their cap must be off as I just downloaded a 200mb file and it took less than hour as a free user. I watched my download manager and the speed went as high as 150 kb/s (lower than the 300 I mentioned earlier, but still much higher than the 30 kb/s cap) and my download speed never reached 30 kb/s; I think the lowest it got was about twice that 60 kb/s.

 

With RapidShare it might seem like you're getting 200-300 KB / Sec download, but in reality they PAUSE your download whenever a certain amount of data is transferred. I've watched it slowly many time and it is a fact that RS throttles speeds with pauses. It might look like it is downloading at a certain speed but in reality it is not. I've been downloading as a free user from Rapidshare for a long time and just last night a 160MB file took two hours, and that is not a rare occurrence, it happens on every single file.

 

The fact that Phun has waited 2 or 3 months is stupid.

Phun should choose some new hosts and see what happens. If they're cash hosts and there is a flood of new material what's wrong with that?

How about approve some new hosts in a week, let users download new material. If those hosts are shut down. choose another set of hosts. It's called a dynamic balance.

Why choose a sterile stability where nothing is happening? It's insane. If Phun is trying to make itself extinct, this is surely the way to do it. Set up a system where no one posts anything, wait until all the users go away and then shut down.

No. I just tried a RS download and it's still 30 KB/s. Do you think that article on Gawker (and many other sites) was false reporting? Like I said, I've never seen even one person, except you, claim that RS download speeds are anything other than 30 KB/s.

Google "Rapdishare free users" and see how many links come up, like this one:

http://torrentfreak.com/rapidshare-slows-download-speeds-to-drive-away-pirates-120224/

Take note: Torrentfreak asked RS about the speed cap and this was their response:

"Then a little over a week ago reports started coming in that users of RapidShare’s free service had experienced dramatic speed drops down to around 30/kbs. Speculation was rife that the company was exploiting the Megaupload closure fallout to drive users to their premium, non-limited products. So we asked RapidShare, and this was their fascinating response.

“On January 19th Megaupload was shut down by the FBI. Shortly thereafter, several other file hosters curbed their services or entirely stopped their operations,” the company told TorrentFreak.

“RapidShare has been faced with a severe increase in free user traffic and unfortunately also in the amount of abuse of our service ever since, suggesting that quite a few copyright infringers have chosen RapidShare as their new hoster of choice for their illegal activities,” the company explained.

“We have thus decided to take a painful yet effective step: to reduce the download speed for free users. We are confident that this will make RapidShare very unpopular amongst pirates and thus drive the abusive traffic away.”"

Maybe Lapans is right, you're mistaking the bursts that RS allows for the average speed. But when it takes an hour to download 100MB, the arithmetic shows that RS is capping speeds at 30 KB/s. Try it yourself and you'll see that the speed calculations of the download method you're using are wrong.

 

You want to know what's wrong with a flood of new material on cash hosts?

1. Re-Posts; bet you'll find 2 or 3 posts of the same video, which there is no reason for.

2. Dead links; look at how many pages of dead FileSonic links we had when they shut down. You want that again when RapidGator gets shut down (and trust me they WILL get shut down)?

3. People sharing ONLY TO MAKE MONEY!!! This is my main gripe. When Phun was in it's prime, people shared just for the sake of sharing, they didn't share to make a dollar.

We need STABLE hosts that don't delete files, not a quick fix, followed by another quick fix, followed by another quick fix, etc. like I said before. What you are suggesting is nuts. You're thinking only 5 minutes in front of you, Phun is thinking 5 years in front of them. What you don't stop and think about is if you approve a host, let's say RapidGator and it goes down the tube and all those links die out again. What makes you so confident that Phun will regain those users even if a new host is added shortly afterwards?

As for the RapidShare thing, yeah that's what I was talking about. I think I did say more than once that the speed I was referring was a FLUCTUATING speed. I never said the speed was CONSISTENT. Still though it took me just an hour yesterday to download a 170mb file, so I must have gotten a few more speed bursts in that hour that I was supposed to.

Bottom line:

If it were me these would be my 5 hosts:

1. RapidShare
2. HotFile
3. MediaFire
4. DepositFiles
5. Oron

You have one host that pays in Oron which seems to provide a decent d/l speed for a free user at least from the experiences I've had with it and it's been around a little while. Of the paying hosts, Oron seems to be the most stable. As much as I don't want another paying host, of the ones out there this would be the one I would choose and it would at least satisfy the masses who only care to share because they can make money off of it.

RapidShare is the most stable host, but the d/l speed for free users isn't great. The thing is though, they are also the host that IMO at least would be the most safest choice to purchase a premimum membership for as you know they are not being shut down.

While Hotfile has their downside in regards to files being deleted, they do provide a decent d/l speed for free users: you just have to grab their files quickly to take advantage of it.

My experience with MediaFire has been good. I remember reading a while back that they do require you to register an account now to upload and download stuff, but I honestly don't see the harm in that as I would assume that 1. It's free to register and 2. Users of just about every other host I would assume register and account, that's always been my practice at least.

DepositFiles is another stable host and offers decent d/l speeds for free users a good part of the time (yeah I've had some files that took forever to d/l, but have also had others that went rather quickly) and files usually last a decent amount of time (as with RapidShare, I still have files on my DepositFiles account that are years old and still active).

I'll say this we do agree on something, Phun does need to do something and in the not to distant future.

 

If you look back a few pages, I discussed those issues. It depends on your own personal preferences. For me, I'm willing to put up with those problems in order to get new content, but you're not. It's just a disagreement about the price you have to pay to get new posts.

In a way, it's no different than anything else in the economy. Some people are willing to pay more for some goods and services than other people. The marketplace eventually makes the decision, if someone isn't willing to pay enough, companies go under.

Phun used to be a very good forum, lots of new material and a relatively small number of cash upload reposts. Under the new file host circumstances, Phun has changed from a high quality forum to a low quality low price forum. Virtually no new posts (low quality product) but also at a low cost (no cash upload reposts).

I understand that no one likes to see people make money from content that doesn't belong to them. But you must temper your distaste for that by remembering one very important thing we're all downloading free content. I'm not paying for the content I download, so I feel I have no standing to complain about someone else making money from a cash file host. You might not like it, but look in a mirror first before complaining. I do and as a result, I don't complain.

I'm thinking a few months ahead, in this sense. On it's present course, Phun will go extinct.

IMO, you're making a false assumption, that the file host industry will reach a stable situation. With DMCA, SOPA, ACTA, MPAA, RIAA and a host of other laws and other copyright entities attacking the cyberlocker industry, it will never be stable.

It wasn't that long ago that Megaupload, Filesonic, Fileserve were the mainstays of the file host industry, now they're out of the business. What makes you think the industry will _ever_ be stable? It never was in the first place and given the nature of the business, it never will be.

Change is a fact of life, but especially in the file host business. After the recent upheaval among the cyberlockers, it's impossible to make the argument that Phun will ever be able to select a set of file hosts that will remain stable for a year, let alone 5 years.

No, you said you were getting RS download speeds of 300 KB/s and that RS should be considered a good file host. With the real download speed around 30 KB/s, it's not really usable except for small files.

[/QUOTE]

I'd agree with that list. But a lot of people are going to disagree with your inclusion of Oron, they're going to make the very same arguments against you that you've just been making, that allowing a cash paying file host will ruin Phun.

But I realized something while participating in this thread. Obviously, it's entirely up the moderators and admin to make the decision about adding new file hosts. All we lurkers can do is decide whether or not to continue checking Phun to see what's new.

I'm going to switch from checking Phun daily to once a week and if nothing has changed in a few weeks, I'll abandon Phun. The content that is currently being posted isn't worth the time to check every day.

 

If you look back a few pages, I discussed those issues. It depends on your own personal preferences. For me, I'm willing to put up with those problems in order to get new content, but you're not. It's just a disagreement about the price you have to pay to get new posts.

In a way, it's no different than anything else in the economy. Some people are willing to pay more for some goods and services than other people. The marketplace eventually makes the decision, if someone isn't willing to pay enough, companies go under.

Phun used to be a very good forum, lots of new material and a relatively small number of cash upload reposts. Under the new file host circumstances, Phun has changed from a high quality forum to a low quality low price forum. Virtually no new posts (low quality product) but also at a low cost (no cash upload reposts).

I understand that no one likes to see people make money from content that doesn't belong to them. But you must temper your distaste for that by remembering one very important thing, we're all downloading free content. I'm not paying for the content I download, so I feel I have no standing to complain about someone else making money from a cash file host.

I'm thinking a few months ahead, in this sense. On it's present course, Phun will go extinct.

I'm not so sure that the file host industry will ever reach a stable situation. With DMCA, SOPA, ACTA, MPAA, RIAA and a host of other laws and other copyright entities attacking the cyberlocker industry, it will always be under some kind of legal attack.

It wasn't that long ago that Megaupload, Filesonic, Fileserve were the mainstays of the file host industry, now they're out of the business. The cyberlocker industry was never really stable in the first place and given the nature of the business, it probably never will be.

Change is a fact of life, but especially so in the file host business. It's hard to make the argument that Phun will ever be able to select a set of file hosts that will remain stable for a year, let alone 5 years.

The problem with RS is that with the actual download speed around 30 KB/s, it's not really practical except for small files.

I agree with your list.

But I realized something while participating in this thread. Obviously, it's entirely up the moderators and admin to make the decision about adding new file hosts. All we lurkers can do is decide whether or not to continue checking Phun to see what's new.

I'm going to switch from checking Phun daily to once a week and if nothing has changed in a few weeks, I'll abandon Phun. The content that is currently being posted isn't worth the time to check every day.

 

Why ask the question on filehosts then do nothing about the answers? It's been ages since the opening post and zero decisions made. Either do something or do nothing but don't leave the situation unresolved like this.

As has been said there will never be a time of total stability in such a field as file hosting. You must simply make the most of how things stand at the time. It is now quite clear that those who have a payment program have or will be targeted for closure, it's also quite clear that many uploaders want to use such services. Try a compromise and allow 3 or 4 of the better non-payers and whoever is considered the least likely of the payers to fall next, subject to being useful to most downloaders too of course. Indecision appears to be causing paralysis and that is doing nobody any good.

 

Why ask the question on filehosts then do nothing about the answers? It's been ages since the opening post and zero decisions made. Either do something or do nothing but don't leave the situation unresolved like this.

As has been said there will never be a time of total stability in such a field as file hosting. You must simply make the most of how things stand at the time. It is now quite clear that those who have a payment program have or will be targeted for closure, it's also quite clear that many uploaders want to use such services. Try a compromise and allow 3 or 4 of the better non-payers and whoever is considered the least likely of the payers to fall next, subject to being useful to most downloaders too of course. Indecision appears to be causing paralysis and that is doing nobody any good.