Reference site for torrents

Hi, I am looking for advice. straight forward down to earth. I am thinking of starting a site where I will reference torrents of known uploaders, French and English. There will be no torrent files hosted on the site , so no downloading/uploading possible. Next to the uploaders name will be a list of known reputable sites , Vertor, h33t, TPB etc, showing the uploaders user pages and so a list of his or her torrents. There will be a request thread but only when the member has exhausted all possible searches, Bitché, Gooogle , etc. For a start films and music with possibly books will be covered. A free software thread wil be available.
what I would like to know is;
What sort of problems could I have from copyright owners? Do not forget, I would not be stocking torrents or films, but giving links to them.
Would this sort of site be feasable on open or private membership? Meaning that visitors would not have access to user pages links.
Do you think that there is a place on the net for such a site?
Has it been done before.

Thanks for any help and/or advice you can give.

Hi Paul,

I don't have a clue about what is already out there, TW, Bee and Gaz will have better knowledge on that score but as for who can access the site that will be down to you, you can set the controls for who can see what content on a forum or site. You should look at several free site layouts to determine which has the most appropriate functions for your needs.

If I remember correctly TPTB don't hold any torrents on their site, just link to them, I really can't remember, you would probably need to google around and see what you come up with as regards to supply and demand.

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

Thanks Andi, right now then where have those three urchins got to!
Come on out from behind that keyboard.
Thanks for the advice on the sites . I will check around and see what I come up with.

Hi TW , I was thinking of having a community, as I could not and would not have the time to search the net on my own. Your idea about direct download is interesting as such as more people are turning to direct download as they think it is a way to get around the laws concerning P2P.
Yes with wellknown rippers and encodeurs. I would start with French and English as I know my way around a bit better there. Possibly getting onto a couple of people of different languages I know to help out with theirs.
I will try to find a compatible site and see how things work out.
I will take a look at darkside and see what it is like and to get ideas.

Good luck with your new venture Inuit

Thanks Miss Take. It might take me some time, but I will get round to it.

Don't forget to give us a shout if you need any help!

OK Will do , do not worry about that

You could well fall foul of copyright laws for even directing traffic, as in an accessory to commit a felony. Oh I love that sentance. Yes it is aprosecuatable offence. Also remember where your database is etc. Some countries have a very strict copyright law, others a bit looser. Also remember if the database is not in your own country you also have to uphold the law of your own. for instance you are in England and your database is in America, both England and American laws have to be upheld. It can get ever so confusing, but fun learning all that stuff too.

You would also have to look at the small print of you hosting site and software to see if they allow such things. Most do not permit copyright infringments of any kind. That said most of them seem to have blind spot.

I would get a forum with a portal, use the portal to show the links and the forum can be used for chat. The portal can be set to be seen by everybody or as members only, depending on how you want to run it.

You could try a free site, like this one Andi is on. Plenty of them out there. Some police their free sites very closely some do not. So chose wisely. Thenstart it up and see what occurs, remembering to keep a back-up of all your data and your member detials such as their user name and email contact details. Most free sites doen't permit back-ups of the database. That is a pay for it option. That way if the plug is pulled, you can restart without much loss.

Just read the small prints carefully before proceeding. Also worth remnding the big sharks out there like to pick on the small fish. Try to shelter yourself as much as you can, by using a free site, when those sharks come calling, the freesite will shut you down and may prevent the sharks from nibbling on you for brekie. Same goes for hosting, but you still runthe risk of multiple law suites being filed by all the interested parties.

Even with all this bad mojo advice of mine, I'd still say have a crack at it, just be aware of what is swimming around you.

Don't forget the running costs. If you go down the route of using a host and implementing your own software etc.

There are cost of storage and or limits imposed. You have a monthly charge or yearly for the host, but most set limits on how much traffic can be used and space. Go over it, you could find you are either offline a lot as youve used your limits, or have to have very deep pockets for paying everytime you exceed your bandwidth etc.

Things like having direct uplaods from your site will eat into that limit. You will be surprised how quick a limit can be used. If you want a forum, you have to pay for that if you are using such service. They eat database space. PHP does come free on some hosting sites. But php is the most hacked into site and the most fickle when you have to patch the site.

Also some hosts don't offer php or server bases. Really research this beforehand. If you go the route of doing it all yourself, don't forget you need to buy a domain name and maintain that.

There are ways round to lessen the blow, but it is time consuming keeping them all running and updated.

Thanks for all the advice Gris Gris, this is the sort of stuff I was after. You have given a lot of food for thought.