u/oreocereus

Hi, I'm very much brand new to soulseek. About 10-15 years ago, I was an active member of some private music trackers (now dead).

I've been using Mullvad for years, and really like their ethics, track record etc - but obviously Mullvad doesn't offer port forwarding anymore.

I'm reading mixed things about whether a VPN is necessary as a security layer.

I've also read mixed things about whether its necessary to use a VPN with port-forwarding (as less users can download from me).

So a few questions:

1. Is there any real risk to not having a VPN? Am I being overly cautious/lacking in my understanding of how P2P works if I'm concerned?
2. If the answer to (1) is "yes" - if I continued using Mullvad (i.e. VPN without port-forwarding), would it affect enough users that I wouldn't be sharing sufficiently and/or be likely to get banned by other users?
3. If the answer to (2) is "yes" - what VPN does the community recommend? I saw a bunch of old threads on this subreddit, r/piracy and r/mullvad, but they're mostly recommendations from 3 years ago when Mullvad announced it was dropping port forwarding, with a lot of recommendations for now un-trusted (or unavailable) VPNs.

A progress bar, or even a simple "243 tracks to go" type read out would be really nice in the Download Queue tab.

An estimated time would be awesome, but *any* readout would be super helpful.

Currently in the process of bringing thousands of tracks over to Symfonium, and this would be a nice feature for checking progress.

Edit: This isn't a thread asking you if you like the song or not, or asking for your "controversial BoC" opinions. I'm just curious what other songs have divided the "fans" in a similar way.

Father and Son seems to be extremely polarising, with a lot of folks calling it one of their favourite Inferno tracks, and others labelling it as one of the worst BoC tracks.

I'm just curious if there have been other similarly divisive BoC songs? I've been a Boc fan since sometime after TCH was released, though I was a lot less online back then. This is the first BoC release where I've been aware of fan reactions.

The only track I could imagine splitting opinion similarly might be something like Peacock Tail? It's pretty accessible to a general audience, which I suspect is driving the negative opinions of Father and Son (and also bringing in a lot of new fans who might not otherwise get into BoC).

Finally giving up on Spotify. I still have a large harddrive with music from 10-20 years ago from a mix of physical media and private trackers. I'm going to go back to a blend of direct purchases + downloading to try new stuff. Back in the day, private trackers were a great way to find a good quality source of some underground hardcore band from the other side of the world.

None of the private trackers I was on still exist, and I always struggled to maintain upload ratios.

The landscape seems to have changed a fair bit, and I'm struggling to get my head around the basic "how should I do this safely" question. Basically feeling a bit of information overwhelm reading through the wiki with how out of touch my knowledge is.

Soulscape and Monochrome seem to come up pretty frequently for sources looking at recent threads. Are these sources + a good VPN the simplest, and a reasonably secure way to go?

I understand torrents aren't very safe unless one has a private tracker. Is that understanding correct?

What's your method/tools for downloading music with low personal risk? What sources do you use to find downloads?

I have some spare poly around to make a tarp for my partner to try out overnight hiking with me + to dabble in hammocking. Background context below. A friend has offered me their old diy 11ft hammock.

Tl;Dr:

I'm considering a 10x8 tarp. Pitched as an asymmetrical diamond shape.

Or a tapered 11x8/6 with a cat cut ridgeline.

Background: I am interested in dabbling with a hammock. I want to make something large enough for my partner to join me a few nights a year.

Given I don't expect to be doing more than a handful of nights a year hammocking *or* overnighting with my partner, I'm trying to make a compromised tarp that does both. If either hammocking or 2 person hiking became a more prominent part of my life, I'd probably make/buy something more optimized for that.

I have some silpoly lying around. I already have enough shelters for most of my camping (solo hiking + bike touring), so I'm wanting to MYOG something that covers a bunch of versatile scenarios without being a specialist - so before someone comments, I know its not strictly UL! These are kind of "fringe cases" for my camping so I'm ok with that.

The use cases I'd like to cover:

1. Camping with my partner - she's started expressing interest in hiking and all of my shelters are solo. I've never had a flat tarp before, but I think I'd mostly set up an a-frame or half pyramid for this. I think she'll also feel more comfortable with an inner, which might be beyond my sewing skills, but are easy to buy in these shapes. From experience with a-frames and pyramid tents, I thiiiiink front entry would be less inconvenient than a pyramid with 2 people, than someone getting less head room and needing to climb over the other person.
2. Hammock camping is something I'm interested in dabbling with.

I think if either of these use cases became more prominent, I'd make/buy something more focussed on them, but for now I have the silpoly, feel like a project and want something that lets me do some dabbling.

A hammock needs a longer ridgeline than a ground tarp, and my partner won't feel comfortable with anything to tight/close to the rain. So I'm ok with larger than strictly necessary.

I think my options are

1. Square tarp. 9x9 or 10x10. Easy to set up as an a frame, half pyramid on the ground. Set up as a diamond for hammock dabbling.
2. A rectangular tarp. 10x8 or 11x9. I gather less ideal for a half pyramid, and slightly less versatile for "creative" set ups. Set up as an asymm for hammock dabbling.
3. A cat cut 11x9 or 11x8 a-frame set up. Only really optimised for one pitch, but I suspect might be the most ideal shape for a basic 2p ground shelter + hammock shelter, if I accept the reduced versatility. Cuts a bit of weight, makes pitching easy (hopefully).

What do the experienced tarpers reckon?