Do we need books from open sources?

YES (I will choose myself what to download)
69% [ 57 ]
NO (let's not trash the tracker)
30% [ 25 ]

Total Votes : 82

zxc ® 07-Feb-2022 20:11
Do we need books from open sources like DNV & Germanischer Lloyd, P&I, IMODOCS, RMRS etc? Do you think it's time to tighten the rules for posting public materials or leave everything as it is? Leave links in the comments to releases that you would not like to see on the tracker and which, in your opinion, only trash it.
5
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AntaresEnif 02-Apr-2022 00:22
DO WE NEED BOOKS FROM OPEN SOURCES?
I am on the fence about it, I see a benefit to people like me who may not have consistent enough data to download from a website. However sometimes it has been a bit annoying to discover a file you've been fussing over is actually available online elsewhere. I am currently downloading 4 different ones from New England ropes to put uo after getting frustrated with the 98% finished no seed version on, going digging and discovering it was available direct from the manufacturer. There are actually quite a few files I've found this with.
I prose the following for consideration:
1. A section dedicated to this sort of open source data which also includes a requirement for the links to source when posting, and filenames to remain original. This has an added benefit 4 ways that I can see.
A) Those who prefer not to download easily available stuff from the original source here, can do so from the source by following the link.
B) in the event of loss of seeders, anyone can download originals and get the seed pool to completion.
C) New users can put in the leg work to download seedable files from the original source without using precious server resources or Seatracker bandwidth. This leads to a potential way for new members to provide a service within a predefined set of parameters, training wheels for uploading if you will. This might limit problem uploads to one section, if it doesn't do that as is, perhaps a rule that new members must download 3 files from source in the section and start seeding them to be granted upload permissions. I look at the constant grief I had at first, would have been less embarassing to be doing that learning in a dedicated section.
D) It avoids users getting annoyed as I have when discovering that files they had spent a lot of time fussing with to get downloading are both available direct from the original source, and newer better editions as well.
E) Just because things are out there now does not mean they always will be. I have amassed a collection of Bowditch for example, 20 editions I think ranging from 1st edition in early 1800s to the latest release from the US Govt. Same applies for NOAA ENCs and so on, I have been starting to collate the various sources for charts worldwide, it's a lot of digging and a lot of pain in the butt, but is giving me a nice backup chart set for much of the world for little cost. OWNI chartplotters have their own version as well, I have heard a rumour that it's a decrypted current map conversion. Would be reallllllly nice to get that working in openCPN say, instead of running off old CM93V2s, or cobbling together hodge podges of different applications to run the different areas covered by various current sources here and the headaches involved in cracked files, license numbers needed etc. I want a simple chart plotter with worldwide maps, as a universal backup of sorts. It is proving quite the headache. I also look at sources like the celestial nav forum, some quite utterly irreplacable knowledge and documents are there, but it's fragile, if the server goes poof...
0
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AntaresEnif 02-Apr-2022 06:51
Sorry, My message was in response to the original question by @ZXC, not complaining about the working of the server. I outlined specific types of files I feel might meet the objectives of the server, some of which I am working on collecting at the moment, some of which others who know more about computers will be better suited to sorting out. The ability to run open CPN and have at least a reasonable level of detail in worldwide charts I think would be quite a suitable choice, I'm starting to work on that a bit, but it's slow going, many hands would make much lighter work of it. So far most of my uploads have required a fair amount of effort to make them cather than a single titles from an author from another tracker, copy, paste and upload. I think that practice can add value here, and with a section for open books and sources, could be useful all around.
Even as simple as instead of a section have a tag for it, or something, so they can slot into the existing tracker/forum structure but reduce the frequent uploading of such things without them being tagged as a search of the tracker would show them already here and tagged as such.
Secondly, with regards to the free resources, I mentioned a few I have originally downloaded from here, but found better copies from the source. If there was a section where they were uploaded and documented as coming from a free source, it would cut them from getting mixed up elsewhere on the site. Tt the time of download I didn't know that there was a source, that's why I suspect that a designated section for such material, and a requirement to link source would help smooth that out, as well as creating easy to download elsewhere and seed objectives for beginners instead of the trial and error with uploading I went through here. Never uploaded before, and at least my first 4 uploads were annoying to others. By downloading from the other source and pointing the existing site torrent file to the media, it's a good half step. Like training wheels on a bicycle, without disrupting the site as a whole with a lot of dead uploads.
Case in point, I have been fussing around trying to get the New England Ropes splicing guide to download from here, it turns out that there are much better older versions that cover more areas, and a newer version with the latest updates. I'm working on a package of that at the moment.
Other resources like the celestial nav forum contain books that are not hosted anywhere else, if they go down, those resources do too, I think that is a second category that could be beneficial. Also putting together a pack based on publication date, while "free", they are an absolute pain to get ahold of, sort, save, and build proper PDFs from etc.
Of course I will respect whatever is decided, but I do see the potential to reduce created problems, and to provide some valuable resources in a way that isn't being done elsewhere at this time.
0
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ClaireVoyant 22-Aug-2023 20:05
Personally: yes, yes, a thousand times yes! Many great things I have been finding here are open access books, and I usually only realize they are available elsewhere as I go look for information to date a release of unknown year, or when a download has been stalled for a while with no seeds and so I get it from the source, force recheck it and become a seed myself. I would never even realize most of those things even existed if not for their presence on seatracker!
Seatracker has quickly become my one-stop for maritime documentation and an Archive.org-slash-Scihub-slash-Zlibrary of the sea. There is, IMHO, huge value in not only cataloguing and neatly compiling this treasure trove of information, but also in ensuring its preservation - because "open access" is only open access until somebody decides to pack up their toys and go home like the left-pad developer did when he broke half the internet.
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