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Scam??


normdwyer

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To directly answer your question, No, it's not a scam, it's a ground-breaking idea that has not been fully perfected. The costs involved are only intended to cover the expenses in operating the network required to run such a system. We have seen much improvement in recent months and it's now working properly for many users, however it's not ideal for every situation, it will give substantially faster downloads for users who are unable to attract the fastest peers for trading partners however if there are no fast peers on the torrent, or if the vip user doesn't have available download bandwidth, then nothing can be done to help. I recommend reading up on how vip works so you can make an educated decision if you want to try it or not. In many cases you can get a vast improvement in performance by simply following the free advice we offer in the forum.

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  • 2 weeks later...

No. I do not believe it is a 'scam'. I have now performed several tests myself. I have chosen many downloads, all of them different sizes, downloaded on different days and different times of the day. I started the downloads and leave them alone till half completed. (half completed means taking the size of the download dividing it by two). I continually monitor the speed. It does fluctuate, When half completed note the time to that point. Enable the VIP and again leave it alone. I don't know about anyone else but in my case there is quite a dramatic difference. Not all the time. I have found that on larger downloads, and I do mean larger, 2, 3, 4 gig it works much better. And on the more popular downloads as well. I'm at the point now where I don't need to enabled it all the time. I enable it on large popular loads.

Again, I don't know about anyone else but in my case, it can double and sometimes do even better than that on downloads.

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The correct word isn't "Scam", but "failure". No one's fault, of course -- not every endeavour succeeds -- but its been long past the time that "VIP acceleration" should have been put to rest, and a new revenue stream developed. That's something we should all want -- we want bitcomet to have revenues so it can support and develop the core product into the future.

It's free after all, and by far the best clearnet torrent software.

For at least two years, the overwhelming majority of people posting on this and other forums note that Bitcomet itself is an earth-shatteringly great product, but that VIP simply doesn't work. Occasionally someone chimes in with a success report, but it's always unsubstantiated. If you buy VIP and it doesn't work -- which appears to be pretty much always for almost everyone -- you can ask for and receive your $5 back. But one has to assume most of this money is simply written off by the consumer.

I don't write code anymore, so I can't solve the problem. I can suggest a development course, though -- real iMule type anonymity over i2p. That's the future of filesharing, and I hope bitcomet is part of it.

But one thing for sure, Bitcomet should stop marketing VIP acceleration.

Edited by pristine2 (see edit history)
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Pristine2, you have to remember that people only come to forums to report problems, when something works they simply use it, and my understanding is there is a significant number of repeat vip users. Many of the problems that plagues the service in the first year or two have been resolved or greatly improved and I think one of the remaining issues is educating the users to know when vip can, and cannot help. We seem to get a certain number of people who assume it's a solution to an unseeded task, which of course it's not.

Also, vip was intended to be a self sufficient system, not a source of revenue.

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I get that, and no one is blaming you. In my my experience, however, VIP is (or I should say, was) worse than useless. I tested it rather extensively, using a variety of connections and configurations. Aside from not functioning as advertised, it was riddled with interface flaws. That was 18 months ago, but I've read nothing to indicate that there's anything but marginal improvement in functionality, and some three years after launch it is still marked "beta". No solution is offered to those who complain of the same problems, only a refund.

I have to question, even, whether the underlying premise is valid -- that even a purpose specific p2p node can really provide preferential delivery using the bittorrent engine. I suppose it is possible, if the target market is those people running 56k modems. Some substantiation would be nice. But if someone is running even standard 128 VSL in a developed country, can VIP possibly provide any perfromance enhancement in torrent share? I think the answer must clearly be NO. The absence of most network prerogatives (aside those built into the software) is what makes the torrent system possible in the first place. It's more readily possible with KAD. If the assertion is that it will help people still using dial-up in less developed countries, it isn't unreasonable to expect a little proof.

My mind is still open. But come on. Three years? Anyway noone is losing their shirt and it's really just a matter of ethics. Does the marketing make clear that under many or most circumstances, VIP will not "accelerate" anything? No.

And I'd have to re-iterate that things are changing quickly, and any debate over VIP will soon be moot. Those changes require an embrace of anonymity technology, and the i2p platforms, like iMule, are already miles ahead.

Edited by pristine2 (see edit history)
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  • 5 months later...

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