We cannot have links to downloads of copyrighted material like the books or torrent files (or torrent websites) or other things in this forum. I have had to close several of these topics recently - please do not waste my time on what should be obvious common sense: do not post these things in this forum.

Are these guidelines from the GoT/AsoIaF establishment or BBS rules? Because BBS rules prevent you from linking directly to torrents, which a link to thepiratebay or w/e is not.

We don't want links to torrent sites on here.

Then I wish you good luck with the forums. I liked this forum when it was underground and you could talk shit about some people in the establishment w/o being mentioned in the podcast. I liked this forum when it wasn't a miniature of the westeros forums with the exact topics and arguments. I liked this forum when it was a safehaven and when you could discuss topics as long as they weren't illegal and did not set up any guidelines in order to get Martin's seal of approval.

/Peace out and keep delivering those great podcasts and essays.

So I've spotted the flaw in your rant. Torrents are illegal at least in the countries that this site mainly caters to.

whats the problem careless? they dont want links to torrents, its their place and that is totally ok. it is a nearly not moderated board which is incredible itself with over 1000 members and nearly no rules. the few rules that exist should therefore be followed.

AGREED! Amin and Mimi and Kyle and Ashley support this site with their own time and money so we can have a place to hang out with our fellow fans in a more intimate way than on some other forums, is it really that hard to respect their desire not to post links to illegal torrents? Is that so essential to your existence that it has fundamentally offended you? Grow up buddy

I think this thread should be locked. As in most public forums on the internet, no links to torrents or other illegal sites. It shouldn't be up for discussion.
If you're really devastated you can't share your illegal torrent links here, that's what email is for. PM someone, get their email, and keep the chat off the site.

Yeah that's fair. I'll stop posting!

I just want to start off saying the people that run this site can make up whatever rules they want, and I am not arguing for or against any rules. I think some people in this thread are confused on what a torrent is. I am not sure they are illegal in any country. It is an incredibly useful tool for distributing large files across the Internet. They can be used illegally, just like a car can be used for human trafficking, but it is just a tool.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torrent_file

Yeah I know what torrents are and how they can be used legitimately for file sharing. The point is that they are often used illegally (and yes I know their legal use for copyrighted material is still being developed and debated and varying from country to country).

Popular torrent sites have torrents used for both legal and illegal purposes. Perhaps there are torrent sites that only do legitimate sharing but 1) None have been posted 2) I would rather not have to devote my time to checking every torrent site to see what is hosted there. The posts that have happened recently have been sharing torrents of the books or audio books to download which allow people to download either for free or other ways to download them and we can't have them on the site. It is a tiny fraction of the posts that happen here or you would expect to happen here, but if that is too restrictive for you then sorry but that's what we're going with. I don't think being really careful about file sharing on the forum to avoid legal trouble for something that is a hobby of ours is equivalent to stifling free speech on the forum. If you do think that is so, that's fine, but please respect our wishes. Thanks