Decentralization enthusiasts: Why didn't decentralized BitTorrent search takeoff? Many tried: en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti…
Not rhetorical, I'd love ideas. I'll share a few theories below 👇
Not rhetorical, I'd love ideas. I'll share a few theories below 👇
Theory 1: Decentralized search doesn't help improve user experience. In-app search is a liability since courts eventually ruled that Limewire and Kazaa should have added client-side copyright filters. PopcornTime is a torrent specific example of in-app search attracting lawsuits
Theory 2: Netflix, Spotify, and Hulu didn't *kill* BitTorrent, but they marked the end of BitTorrent users being willing to learn new techniques for finding pirated content. Basically, Hollywood finally fixed the incentive I talk about in this tweet:
Theory 3: Decentralized BitTorrent search solves a problem end users don't care about: reducing risk The Pirate Bay is willing to take on. The Pirate Bay (and other central indexes) must die for adoption/development to pick up on decentralized search:
Theory 4: Decentralized BitTorrent search was just much worse than centralized indexes in terms of the amount of results. Similar to theory #3 but about amount of content instead of risk, decentralized search would only take off if centralized indexes died.
Theory 5: No market incentives to drive user adoption for decentralized BitTorrent search. It is an interesting research question, a fun OSS project, but doesn't attract any marketing-like interest. The Pirate Bay is a top 500 visited website, so it is worth the risk for someone
Theory 6: I'm just oblivious and decentralized BitTorrent search is a big thing in certain countries or in a certain niche.
If you know of an example w/ decent and growing usage, I'd love to know. A lot of my views on decentralization as a trend are connected to this question
If you know of an example w/ decent and growing usage, I'd love to know. A lot of my views on decentralization as a trend are connected to this question
Theory 7: Interest in improving the BitTorrent protocol/ecosystem dried up at some point and today people willing and able to take a risk on building a good decentralized BitTorrent search product are instead working on blockchain tech, IPFS, Dat, etc.
Theory 8: Decentralized search doesn't actually buy more legal protection if you still have to host the frontend or distribute a desktop app. If law enforcement tried harder to kill BitTorrent sites, we'd see more Tor hidden services for search, not decentralized search protocols
