Thread: BakaBT (BBT) Review

BakaBT is an old well-known semi-private anime bittorrent tracker. Formerly known as BoxTorrents, it is probably one of the most well-known elite anime bittorrent trackers despite being semi-private (and hence semi-public too). The tracker itself focuses on Japanese anime and such related content, including manga, live action films/shows/dramas, anime/movie soundtracks, artbooks and hentai.

The code for the site is almost entirely custom-coded by Jarudin, and the site itself is co-owned by Jarudin and Malus, following some drama with the creator, Box. A custom tracker system was created a while ago, and now there are many freeleech torrents on the site, including all 1080p content, all artbooks and all torrents below 100MB in size.

Registrations for BakaBT are always open, although there is a one-account-per-person-per-lifetime rule. However, it should be known that you do not need an account, although advanced browsing features like searching require an account. An account is also required to download and view hentai content.

Home/News
BakaBT's front page consists of the recent news. These news posts are all posted in the forums and reflected on the main page, with a link to the respective thread for comments/replies.





Statistics
BakaBT keeps a list of statistics available on the main page:

Originally Posted by Main Page on Feb. 28th, 2010

We have 156,426 registered users (58,698 power users). We are tracking 6,588 torrents of which only 1 are unseeded.
We currently service 119,746 peers (1,450 anonymous). 112,798 seeders and 6,948 leechers. Overall ratio of our pooled peers is 16.235.

Torrent Categories
This is normally unseen by unregistered users. See the screenshot for Browse Page.



Browse Page
The BakaBT browse page is organized by most recent torrent first, but the columns can be sorted to rearrange the results. A search bar is also available if the user is registered.



Forums
BakaBT Forums can be found at BakaBT - Index. It is a Simple Machine Forums-based forum that has been customized slightly.



Rules
All of BakaBT's rules are located on the BakaBT Wiki. Not only is this a great wealth of information, it contains necessary reading for new users.



User Classes
The User Class information is provided on the Wiki too. Something that sets BakaBT aside in this category is the fact that BakaBT has no SysOps. The site is lead by the Admins, with the Moderators doing most of the front work.

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Requests
BakaBT doesn't have a requests system, unlike most private trackers. As a result, there is no reward scheme for fulfilling requests. If one wishes to place a request, this is done through the forums: New Torrent Requests



Passkeys
BakaBT uses a Passkey system to track uploading and downloading for registered users. Despite being semi-private, BakaBT's torrent files are all marked as 'private' to enable ratio tracking; DHT, Peer Exchange, etc. are disabled. Each user is assigned a passkey that is unique to them, and is automatically embedded in torrent files they download. This passkey can be reset if needed.

BakaBT also has what is known as a Public Key. Each month, a new public key is generated, making old keys void. This encourages torrenters to find the site and potentially register for an account, leading to more peers/users on the site. It is very successful as many indexing sites (isoHunt) index torrents from BakaBT and the tracker URLs last for a month before expiring, leading the downloader to seek out the original site.

Private Passkey:


Public Passkey:


Offers
Something unique to BakaBT is that uploaded torrents do not go to the torrent pool immediately. BakaBT employs what's called an offers system where all uploaded torrents first go through a screening process before being approved and then going into the torrent pool. This prevents bad torrents and files that are not allowed. Each offer requires two "approvals" from a staff member before it is approved into the torrent pool.



Descriptions
Another feature unique to BakaBT is called Descriptions. Most torrent sites with engines like Gazelle have fixed fields for inserting information. BakaBT doesn't have this. Instead, there is a 'sandbox' where uploaders are free to put whatever description they wish. BakaBT maintains a standard for the type of information that needs to be in it, but the display is up to the user. This gives them a chance to show off their HTML, CSS and BBCode skills and produce colorful and attractive yet informative pages. For those with not much skill, BakaBT has a Templates section where people can simply insert information into boxes and then generate a code. They can then paste this into the box for the description.





Banners
BakaBT currently only has one theme, the default look. While this may change in future, BakaBT does have a very large collection of rotating banners which are available for users to choose from if they do not like the current rotation image. Banners will automatically change every 5 minutes (not upon refresh) to conserve server resources. A full list of the banners can be found on the Banners page: Banners - BakaBT



Last Christmas, BakaBT also held a banner competition. The winning banners were put into rotation for over a month but are no longer in rotation. The banners can still be viewed and individually applied on the Holiday Banners page: Banners - BakaBT



Adoption
BakaBT is also home to the Adoption Center. An original idea that has only seen implementation here, BakaBT Power Users are able to adopt an abandoned torrent from the Adoption Center. This basically transfers ownership of the torrent from one user (who has usually neglected the torrent/description) to another, allowing for the new owner to care for the torrent. This allows users who have time to spare to liberate and care for torrents that deserve better descriptions or simply need updating. This also serves as a way to assign owners to torrents who have pruned owners.



Torrent Swap
BakaBT is also home to the feature known as Torrent Swap. Torrent swapping is as the name suggests: swapping a torrent. Each torrent has an associated ID, but on most sites, these are fixed. On BakaBT, users are able to request to replace the existing torrent (for one ID) with a new one, allowing for content to be changed/updated without having to reupload the torrent. Although it should be noted that Moderators/Staff have to grant this before the swap is done, and swaps will clear the peerlist.



Bonus Points
Like most bonus systems on trackers, the Bonus Points system is an extra-credit system. B-Points can be traded for upload credit, and of course, the more points traded, the more credit given. Trading more points also gets you a discount.



Donations
BakaBT accepts donations, like a lot of sites, but due to controversy and drama in the past with the previous owner, a new system has since been implemented. Donations are no longer permanently open. Instead, after the server bill is paid, donations will open. As soon as enough donations have been accumulated (up to the level enough to pay 3 more server bills), donations will automatically close preventing any more donations.



A chart of all donations and transactions is available for users to view. The information is very clear and accessible as BakaBT staff wanted to be as transparent as possible with donations and money (due to past drama surrounding BakaBT/BoxTorrents).



PFCorner
PFCorner is a seedbox provider that has provided special services to BakaBT. First, it has backed up all the torrents available on BakaBT. This means that if needed, any torrent can be reseeded. The second service it offers is a Torrent Sponsorship program where users can 'sponsor' a torrent and that torrent will be seeded on their behalf for a fixed amount of time. All upload credit is credited to their account, and nothing needs to be downloaded. Prices will vary, but PFCorner maintains a document that can be found on the BakaBT Wiki page for PFCorner: PFCorner - BakaBT Wiki. PFCorner's website can be found at PFCorner and their BakaBT info page can be found at BakaBT SeedBoxes Service



RSS
BakaBT provides two different RSS feeds for the site. One of them, the more commonly used one, is the New Torrents feed. This feed catalogs all the new torrents that have been uploaded and granted by staff members. The other feed available is a forum feed. This feed will display the latest posts on the forum, similar to the "Recent Activity" box at the bottom of the Forum Index page.



Conclusion
Contents: 9/10 - Lots of rare content on this site. The only downside I can think of is that it does remove some licensed content so not all stuff can be found here.

Community: 9/10 - BakaBT has a very helpful community provided you don't fail. They are also very active in uploading new torrents.

Speeds: 11/10 - BakaBT has insane download speeds. There are almost always no unseeded torrents, and there is a seedbox service (called PFCorner) that keeps any unseeded torrents backed up and seeded. In fact, because of this, they have an overseeding issue and maintaining a ratio isn't the easiest thing in the world.

Staff: 9/10 - Very friendly and helpful people. They may snap if you cross the line though ;)

General: 9/10 - BakaBT is a great tracker for an anime/manga fan. It's free - no invite needed, no prices attached - and there is a lot of content available for everyone.

Links
BakaBT - High quality anime bittorrent tracker
Signup - BakaBT
Offers - BakaBT
Rules - BakaBT Wiki
FAQ - BakaBT Wiki
BakaBT - Index

I've just updated the review with more information on unique features of BakaBT. Will upload screenshots when I get home.

Very good anime tracker.Recommend it.

A couple of images updated. Working on the rest in my free time.

edit:
All apart from one image uploaded. Some sections rewritten. Some information updated.

The review is finally complete. I'd even go as far as to say it's probably one of the more extensive ones. If anyone has any suggestions of things to add or mistakes to point out, please do.

edit:
Good point there with the usernames. I forgot about that when taking the screen. Will do when I wake up tomorrow morning. And sorry about the double/triple posting, but I thought that if I bumped it the thread would get some attention.

edit2: fixed.

I've been a member in BakaBT for quite a while now. Since before I started using private trackers actually O_O
BakaBT is a really good public tracker. It has a lot of good anime titles. They don't allow anything produced by SXION23 (Section 23/ADV Films) or FUNimation (or titles turned from Geneon Entertainment).
And also, they don't allow visual novels either ><
Personally, I'd give this tracker a 2/5

Recommended for the people who're just starting to get into the anime specific trackers.

Incorrect. BakaBT allows titles licensed by ADV Films/Section 23 provided they were licensed on or before the 31st of December 2006 (i.e. all titles before 2007).

Originally Posted by Core

Incorrect. BakaBT allows titles licensed by ADV Films/Section 23 provided they were licensed on or before the 31st of December 2006 (i.e. all titles before 2007).

I just checked the "Do Not Upload List" on BBT and there's tons of stuff that was licensed before 2007. Maybe it hasn't been updated yet?

In any case, still a good pub tracker lol *changes subject before mods get here*

Yeah, the DNU list has not been updated for a long time due to all the changes that were made. If you actually search the content, you will find that BakaBT now has a lot of former-ADV titles.

Originally Posted by Core

Yeah, the DNU list has not been updated for a long time due to all the changes that were made. If you actually search the content, you will find that BakaBT now has a lot of former-ADV titles.

I can second that.

I'm in BakaBT and a lot of changes went on when they changed from Boxtorrent to BakaBT.

They're great for anime. I love it :D