Heya Guys!

I have an idea! Since a lot of us here are learning languages as Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and so on. And it's always a hassle to find quality media in our chosen language. I was thinking of making a closed community to trade, swap and share media.

I was thinking of making it a website that's only viewable with an invite. The condition to participate would be to at least contribute 1 piece of media. And I'd make a database with all the media in categories, each time while mentioning whose it is.
Then we can start happy sharing. ^^

I have a bunch of chinese disney movies to kick off the website. Only I was still thinking how to do it, should I just create it in a blog like google's? But that doesn't work with invitations right?
What about a forum, combined with a sort of wikipage?

Closed community + trading will hopefully keep the website alive, not being taken down by the navi. (as in we're pirates xD)

Any thinks this is a good idea? Anyone knows a good free forum host to kick it off? LET ME KNOW!

Yours truly,

-Mesqueeb

If by media you mean stuff like movies and tv shows, it'd have to be in languages that aren't usually already shared a ton (ie: Japanese). Otherwise the only media in Japanese that comes to mind for me that would be interesting is (light) novels and maybe manga. Problem is fenced sharing communities are only great when you a) have something thats difficult to find and/or b) want to enforce actual sharing.

The RTK share group?

vix86 Wrote:If by media you mean stuff like movies and tv shows, it'd have to be in languages that aren't usually already shared a ton (ie: Japanese). Otherwise the only media in Japanese that comes to mind for me that would be interesting is (light) novels and maybe manga. Problem is fenced sharing communities are only great when you a) have something thats difficult to find and/or b) want to enforce actual sharing.

The thing I was thinking about ís really hard to find.
*Disney movies in Chinese, Japanese, Korean (with cn/jp/kor subs if possible)
*Audio tracks of Chinese, Japanese, Korean disney movies
*Manga in Japanese (these raw manga sites die fast lately)
*Ghibli movies in Korean and Chinese (with cn/jp/kor subs if possible) + Audio tracks
*Subtitles of Japanese dramas / anime / and chinese and other stuff
*Disney songs in Chinese / Korean / Japanese
*Ghibli songs in Chinese / Korean

The RTK share group → There are no more files there, but that's where I got my inspiration!

Now ofcourse if you look hard you can find everything on the web.
But the reason I'd want to kick off such a website is that:
A) Everything comes together in one awesome recourse site → the paradise fo asian language learners.
B) It makes it everything easy → less time in searching media = more time for actual fun with your favourite language ^^
C) I can share what I already have which is imho hard to find
D) Great sharing websites disappear from time to time. Since my sharing website would be man-to-man, the media doesn't disappear. Unless you get on someone's bad side. xD
E) No linking to dead links. (share websites that will disappear anyway.)
→ Real sharing/trading.
F) No more hassle! Life becomes EASY!


So does anyone know a good forum host?

I think it sounds like a good idea. There used to be that RTK Share group, but last month someone deleted the spreadsheets with all the links in, and it appears they are gone forever.

Yeah, I thought google were only preventing creation of new editable pages or whatever they called it, turns out they deleted all the existing pages as well I guess.

Maybe one of these:
http://www.phpbb.com/
http://www.freeforums.org/
http://www.forumotion.com/

Has anyone had any experience with any of these?

Yes, since google got rid support for the group pages, the RTK share group has been pretty much dead =/ There just isn't anywhere to put stuff >.<

It would probably be best if it was hosted on a VPS or something since you never know what the TOS on those kind of sites are like. Especially considering what we would be using it for >.<

I was thinking we all share our part from our own computer.
So Everything we have comes on a nicely organized list, with each time the corresponding contact information of who is the owner.
It's a start. Then people can put their stuff into their dropboxes, and share the links with who want it.
If we get bigger, after a half year or so, we can all contribute to a pro dropbox or anything in that genre maybe.

Just anything so we don't end up with a website full of dead links. ^^

The standard dropbox size is only 2GB, megaupload would probably be more practical.

But Megaupload links die right?

Yeah, when a file hasn't been downloaded for so long, can't remember how long that is though. 2GB is only like 2 or 3 movies, and people use their dropbox for other stuff as well.

Mesqueeb Wrote:I was thinking we all share our part from our own computer.
So Everything we have comes on a nicely organized list, with each time the corresponding contact information of who is the owner.
It's a start. Then people can put their stuff into their dropboxes, and share the links with who want it.
If we get bigger, after a half year or so, we can all contribute to a pro dropbox or anything in that genre maybe.

Just anything so we don't end up with a website full of dead links. ^^

We did try using a program called retro-share which was basically a files sharing network between trusted friends, but unfortunately not many people used it so there wasn't much stuff on there.

http://retroshare.sourceforge.net/

When it worked, it did work quite well though. Might be worth a try again.

bombpersons Wrote:We did try using a program called retro-share which was basically a files sharing network between trusted friends, but unfortunately not many people used it so there wasn't much stuff on there.

http://retroshare.sourceforge.net/

When it worked, it did work quite well though. Might be worth a try again.

retroshare seems nice, do you recommend it?
I wonder:
A) Is it user friendly?
B) Is it a heavy burden on diskspace? (the program itself, not the media xD)
C) Is it a heavy burden on CPU/RAM?
D) Do you need to keep the program running to be able for friends to download?
(Since I am from Europe, and we have people from America and Asia, we won't be online at the same time probably...) → Seems a burden to have it running all the time.
E) Eye Candy? Does it look clean? Does it look minimalistic? ^^

Thanks for helping me with these questions!

Mesqueeb Wrote:retroshare seems nice, do you recommend it?
I wonder:
A) Is it user friendly?
B) Is it a heavy burden on diskspace? (the program itself, not the media xD)
C) Is it a heavy burden on CPU/RAM?
D) Do you need to keep the program running to be able for friends to download?
(Since I am from Europe, and we have people from America and Asia, we won't be online at the same time probably...) → Seems a burden to have it running all the time.
E) Eye Candy? Does it look clean? Does it look minimalistic? ^^

Thanks for helping me with these questions!

With a lot of people I'd imagine it would work perfectly!
A) A lot of people had trouble getting it to work when we were trying it. It wasn't that complicated but non-computer savy people were a little confused by it. That was a while ago though, it might be better now.
B) The program is tiny =)
C) I have no idea >.< I didn't have any problems when I was running it.
D) Yeah, you need to keep it running for people to download from you. You need a lot of people for it to work well =(
E) http://retroshare.sourceforge.net/screenshots.html

I think the simplest solution would be torrenting via the OpenBitTorrent tracker. The forum would publish magnet links only.

bombpersons Wrote:

Mesqueeb Wrote:retroshare seems nice, do you recommend it?
I wonder:
A) Is it user friendly?
B) Is it a heavy burden on diskspace? (the program itself, not the media xD)
C) Is it a heavy burden on CPU/RAM?
D) Do you need to keep the program running to be able for friends to download?
(Since I am from Europe, and we have people from America and Asia, we won't be online at the same time probably...) → Seems a burden to have it running all the time.
E) Eye Candy? Does it look clean? Does it look minimalistic? ^^

Thanks for helping me with these questions!

With a lot of people I'd imagine it would work perfectly!
A) A lot of people had trouble getting it to work when we were trying it. It wasn't that complicated but non-computer savy people were a little confused by it. That was a while ago though, it might be better now.
B) The program is tiny =)
C) I have no idea >.< I didn't have any problems when I was running it.
D) Yeah, you need to keep it running for people to download from you. You need a lot of people for it to work well =(
E) http://retroshare.sourceforge.net/screenshots.html

Hmmm, maybe there are better options... Retroshare seems not good for the reasons being: You upload the file every time again to someone's computer, and in Belgium we have a upload/download limit. >< Sucks to be me. xP
Also the idea of the program that needs to be running all the time. We need some space in the cloud to store things, but all costs ridiculous money.

So I am thinking of just beginning it with a list of media, with contact information, all nicely organized in a forum, so we can chat there. xD
If it's with no clouding service it's real communication, asking someone for their awesome movie, maybe trade for something you have. xP

IDEA 1: Each file can have up to 5 main hosters, meaning, the moment I give someone my Disney movie X, and he agrees to become mutual main hoster, I'll add his contact info with that specific movie, so people can also ask him.

or even better: IDEA 2: A tag system! xP Each file has 3 games of tag going on.

e.g. I start with Disney movie X.
Movie X current location: @Mesqueeb's place @Mesqueeb's place @Mesqueeb's place

Person A mail me: Can I have it? Tag game one has started:
Movie X current location: @A's place @Mesqueeb's place @Mesqueeb's place

The next person could choose to mail person A, or Mesqueeb. Once you give the file once, the next person will be tagged and be the main hoster, for only 1 time.
All through email communication, and me as organizer.
I would always be added in the cc of the email to update the status of the tag-game. xP

I like my tag idea, as in everyone doing just as much effort than they get in awesome media. However it seems a hassle for me to update. A wikipage seems not the ideal solution.

Also will there be events, for example, if you do have a dropbox, you can say: This week movie X will be in the public folder! So I'll share the link here for 1 week! Grab it while you can!

It will be a big party. ^^ Can you feel it in the air?
And the best thing is that no links will ever die! Muhahahahaha

-Mesqueeb

Maybe if we do a tag system on files, and it's a forum, each file can have it's own thread:

e.g.
Chinese board:
Animation:

title: [Disney - Aladdin]
I'll kick this game of tag off with Aladdin!
-Mandarin
-Traditional Subs
(and as much info as you want)

Next poster: Yes! I'll be taking it for now!

<<Original poster emails it to second poster.>>

Next poster: Aladdin, come here baby! ^^

<<Second poster emails it to 3th poster>>

and so on.

Note "wetransfer" is a website that allows you to mail files up to 2gb for free. ^^

temporary Wrote:I think the simplest solution would be torrenting via the OpenBitTorrent tracker. The forum would publish magnet links only.

Maybe a torrent system with passwords would be another good idea.
But no files or passwords must be leaked, it has to be a closed community, so only people who contribute can download, and we don't get legal problems.

We could have a password per file only viewable for members on the forums. Is it actually possible at all to lock a torrent up? I have no experience with that...

I think it's a pretty good idea now that this forum has many members, each with their own world-view and searching for and buying different materials that could benefit other people too.
The question is how to make it work.

Mesqueeb Wrote:

temporary Wrote:I think the simplest solution would be torrenting via the OpenBitTorrent tracker. The forum would publish magnet links only.

Maybe a torrent system with passwords would be another good idea.
But no files or passwords must be leaked, it has to be a closed community, so only people who contribute can download, and we don't get legal problems.

We could have a password per file only viewable for members on the forums. Is it actually possible at all to lock a torrent up? I have no experience with that...

Think he suggested magnet links to avoid legal complications.

thecite Wrote:Think he suggested magnet links to avoid legal complications.

I've just done some research to look up what it is, but I am still confused. ><

I'd be well up for this, I have quite a lot of western media I can share.

Here is a magnet link:

magnet:?xt=urn:btih:CBKVT2KIDHEVOQSNXA3U5C5TCCTGYBSO&dn=%5b%e5%b2%a9%e6%98%8e%e5%9d%87%5d%20%e5%af%84%e7%94%9f%e7%8d%a3%20(%e5%ae%8c%e5%85%a8%e7%89%88)%20%e5%85%a88%e5%b7%bb%2b%ce%b1&tr=http%3a%2f%2fopen.nyaatorrents.info%3a6544%2fannounce

It contains the hash of the torrent file, optionally its name (it's Japanese, that's why it's so ugly) and the tracker url(s). Fire up your favorite torrent client (most of them support magnet, I recommend qBittorent), copy-paste the link (read the docs if necessary, but it should be obvious) and start downloading. That's all.

You won't store a media file, not even a torrent file. IANAL, but to me it seems legal, though it's definitely not in the spirit of the law. If the lawyers really wanna get you, they will get you. If you fear, don't do it.

I don't really understand that closed/private thing. The more openness, the more users the better. Why don't you join to already established communities like http://www.nyaa.eu? Anyway, if you really want privacy, only let your friends register in the forum (invited members only).

temporary Wrote:I don't really understand that closed/private thing. The more openness, the more users the better. Why don't you join to already established communities like http://www.nyaa.eu? Anyway, if you really want privacy, only let your friends register in the forum (invited members only).

Well, I want a group a fun people on a forum, all studying languages.
I don't need that much people, just a few nice ones that can share hard to find media.

Nyaa is awesome, I use it a lot, but anything that is on nyaa is not hard to find.
I am talking about disney dubs in japanese/kor/chinese. Ghibli dubs in chinese/korean. Such things are hard to find.
It's not about quantity that I want a lot of files, just a few really good and rare ones, and a nice forum to keep the party going. ^^
I was also thinking about disney songs in other languages.

Anyhow, I am planning to wait until after the exams, then check out how it goes about at the ajatt forums, they share as well have I heard. So I'll probably subscribe for one month, see how they do it, see how rare the files are they share, check what their way of working is, copy that idea, make my own forum without monthly subscription, and get together with a select group that wants to share good media.

Supportive feedback is still welcome however!