I remember when Demonoid was my favorite tracker ever (RIP)
I remember checking constantly to see if there was a new post on the FileShareFreak blog (also RIP)
I remember when it was a fad for private trackers to be extremely exclusive and hard to get into, then you finally got in and found out they just sucked
I remember there was that one "uber" site that loaded up to generic looking white pages search, and you had to search for a specific dude or something to unlock entrance. The content was so bad I forgot the name.
I remember when invite forums were all the rage, and there was like a "secret" second tier invite forum that recruited in private from the places everyone knew about. Basically everyone there had every tracker they wanted, even the dumb hard to get into ones lol, and they ran out of things to ask for. Think it was called inviteZone or some shit??
I remember when x264.me used a browser exploit to check peoples histories and banned everyone who had even visited an invite forum (glad that place is dead).
Demonoid and Pirate Bay when it was new were inspiring to us as high schoolers, waffles and bacon bits rip. What a great trip it has been… and will continue to be.