[marksg]

If you have a coder, a far easier solution would be to simply build a new site based on Gazelle. The source code is free. Think Redacted, Orpheus, IPT, Speed. Yeah you lose your past history, but that's the point. Cleaning up MySql after all these years can be a challenge.

Of course that doesn't address the need for new blood. After spending the last 10 years operating Planet Rock and handling funds, I couldn't continue that level of work either.

That's why we decided to adapt. Why pay for a server? Why have to deal with running one? Freeforum.net does it all, setting up a similar site on it is not hard. Trade using the cloud. Since you are strictly ROIO it's a piece of cake. Simply post hyperlinks instead of torrent files. Or use DHT torrents and post magnet links.

It's what I did with Planet Rock. I pruned off everyone that hadn't logged in for 2 years. We have more trade activity now than when the tracker worked. The site costs nothing, we spent about 40$ on some extras, but that's it. The site runs itself, no maintenance concerns or updates. Torrent Trackers are not worth the hassle anymore.

Bit Torrent traffic stands out, your ISP knows what you're doing. HTTPS is faster, and it blends in with normal traffic. I spent months researching everything from repair/rebuild of the original to a Replacement. We actually created a mockup using UNIT3D. Didn't care for the forum, it's more for the movie/tv show crowd, but XBTIT ran torrents right out of the box. The developer never finished it, you can find that source code too.

In the end the cloud just makes sense. It places the burden on the members, instead of staff. They can choose to subscribe to a cloud service or use free accounts. Seedbox users can install OpenCloud or nextcloud and share https hyperlinks. Synology users can do that as well. Best move I could've made. You should Try one with a test crowd while you have time, that's what I did, we ran a test forum with about 50 veteran traders. We were ready to go when we opened it up to the membership. Took off and never looked back. Now it practically runs itself.