WTF?!?

[ale5000]

I see all forums regarding P2P almost silently.
Is the liberty of expression already died and I haven't noticed?

[dr-flay]

...and slow responses
Since Torrents sites took over, most peoples idea of file sharing changed, as did the purpose and usefulness of the sites.

The more people spread the use of magnet links as a normal DL option, the more needed a tool like Shareaza becomes.
In a time of ever increasing malware and ad infested upload sites, with slow limits and short lifespan, distributed downloads are needed more than ever.

Torrent and the greed of torrent sites has done the damage.
You cannot talk to people about p2p without them saying "oh torrents" and ignoring everything you say next.

[ale5000]

Well, I think it is mostly the fear of being sued rather than torrents.

[dr-flay]

p2p needs re-marketing as a powerful tool with many clear benefits.

Problem is that almost all p2p programs pretend that what you access is "their exclusive network", not just a protocol anyone can use.
Ever since Kaza most users are just simpletons that want to steal some music, and would never think that the first download they should look for in Limewire or Bareshare, is the pro version
The fake Shareaza site is a good example. It continues that concept and makes it seem like you are getting access to their exclusive network, so you will pay for some free software.

Personally I do my best to promote tools like Shareaza and Peerproject as useful servers and client for content delivery of regular downloads, but people always think it must work like torrents and are not interested.
I guess as there is no dedicated site or scene that promotes and shows examples, people will continue to make assumptions.

In 2016 a world of "cloud-computing" (f*ck I hate that term), I find it hard to believe that Magnets and Metalinks are not the default download options.
For many years Opera browser was able to download torrents as if they were regular files.
By now we should be able to visit a Linux site and click on 1 link that adds all sources to a download manager, including the torrent if available.
Today we should not care what system we are using, as we have a standard that covers them all.

After using Net Vampire and multi-threaded downloaders In 1999, I suggested somewhere the idea of a link format that could handle multiple sources, but was told I was crazy and it would be impossible to get people to agree a standard.
I was imagining something like Metalinks, so when Magnets were invented I thought our saviour had finally come.

However, yet again Torrent has got in the way and almost all magnets you find are just Torrents.
All Magnet conversion, caching, and link sharing sites, all make the assumption that Torrent is the only URI it supports, and will strip anything they don't recognise
My solution is to use a normal link shortener that does not care about the content.

As Magnets can contain regular HTTP and FTP sources, so web browsers are easily capable of using them if developers and webmasters realised.
Because they can contain multiple hashes, it also gives a reliability that browser all normal downloads lack.
I like that I can do a regular download of a large file in Shareaza and include the hashes posted at the site, so that I know if it is borked before I try to open it.

Certain sectors of the creative world could be making great use of Magnets, and should be its biggest supporters.
Many independent musicians and game content makers use a short-lived or advert-filled hosting, when they could have free permanent file hosting that can outlive their actual project site which would now cost less to run, and stay free of adverts.
If all community projects realised there was a more reliable system, then p2p sharing would still be popular and taken seriously.
You already have to arrange the uploads and storage, so why not leave Shareaza or similar running on a box with your site downloads. It can be manages remotely.
For every user that uses your Magnets it will start saving you money on hosting, as the more popular a download is, the less you have to send.

Shareaza and IRC or DC++ seem like a perfect partnership for people that require a tool for group use, as users can easily browse each others project folders.
Because I have a huge Unreal related collection, I connect to Mapraider IRC every time I use Shareaza, so any visitors to the chatroom can browse my collection.
If the Mapraider Shareaza is also connected to the IRC, then it also makes browsing the site downloads much very convenient.

http://www.mapraider.com shows that you can have a professional looking site with huge amounts of downloads, without the running costs that killed FilePlanet, AtomicGamer, levels4you and much of the old sections of FileFront.
All served with Magnets, powered by p2p and run by a team of 1.

All cloud services try to convince you that their system is best, but no matter which you use it involves uploading all your data again, thus using more space than needed.
p2p takes exactly the amount of space needed. If a thing was only ever needed once there will be minimal duplication.
Winamp briefly experimented with cloud storage before being sold, and I am glad it was abandoned because I would rather have Winamp be able to use shareaza URLs and just stream from where my music already is.

p2p filesharing is good for the internet, and good for the individual but not for business, and people keep trying to make money with it and damaging it.
In simple terms ed2k:// is no different to HTTP:// or RTSP:// etc., it is just a conduit for data, not something to be monetised or politicised, though the data can be.

Its use as a delivery system should be promoted in the Linux and FOSS communities as a way to cut costs while speeding up delivery.
Imagine if Sourceforge served via magnets. There would be no adverts and repackaging of old projects.

[ale5000]

Shareaza also support torrents, and also can download from both torrent and other networks at the same time; it is the best thing that I like from a multi-networks app.

Most people will never understand not even 20% of the computer related things, they just follow the trends without even knowing how it works; maybe I'm a bit cynical but I think like this.

But my opinion regarding the main problem aren't like you, take for example gnutellaforums, you see now "1 members and 161 guests"; so 161 people that read but remain hidden...