Please Define "Bad Things To The Network"

[Fry-Tor]

It's been awhile since I've visited here (under "fry_tor;" I guess that account expired since it wouldn't let me log in under that particular spelling), and I thought I'd stop in to see if anyone else was still using Gnotella.

As I was going through the posts, I noticed at least two comments that said Gnotella was bad for the network. Could someone please explain exactly how? I don't wish to give up Gnotella because I still haven't found a p2p program I like better (still mainly due to the "spy" and "filterable" monitor features), but I also don't wish to cause any harm.

[trap_jaw]

Gnotella is very old, it doesn't have ultrapeers and other new Gnutella features (like HUGE) so it's probably not performing nearly as good as newer clients when searching or downloading.

[Fry-Tor]

trap_jaw...

I appreciate your reply. While I'm by no means a P2P expert, I do realize Gnotella is old and lags in certain "more current" features.

What concerns me is the tone I percieved in the two posts I read here that continuing to use Gnotella was "bad for the network." Maybe I misunderstood the intent of the writers. But, things passed through my head like Gnotella possibly sucking the life out of the network, causing some kind of security problem, or...shoot, I don't know..."bad for the network" just sounds...bad.

I really want to know if there's more to it than just having an "old" program. I have always considered myself to be a good citizen of the network, and I don't want to cause it or its users harm in any way. I still really like Gnotella, and I don't notice any difference in my search results or in how many people seem to be taking and lining up for my shared files between it and the other programs I've tried (especially after I updated Gnotella's "Saved Hosts" with addresses I found in Shareaza).

If someone can show me some verifiable information on how Gnotella is or might be harmful to the health and welfare of the network and those who use it, I will gladly get rid of it and reinstall Shareaza (my favorite of the others I've tried, which include Gnucleus, BearShare, LimeWire, Xolox, and even WinMx). If not, I see no reason to change until I either find something I like better or Gnotella becomes so old and "un-updateable" that I have to abandon it.

[backmann]

Some people say Gnotella is bad for the network because it still uses .4 handshaking (I do not remember if .6 was implemented in the latest beta), it does not support ultrapeers and therefore it fills the network with not very reliable connections. I never assopted any position myself, as I was a big Gnotella fan until it was discontinued, but I did stop using it when connecting turned into a big pain in the neck.

Ivan
"In the dark we make a brighter light"

[Fry-Tor]

Thanks for the reply, backmann! I must admit I have to go do a little learning about what the difference is between a .4 and a .6 handshake. But, if that is possibly filling the network with unreliable connections, that's definitely something I don't want to do.

I'd also like to add in general that I've been doing a lot of reading since I saw a news story about my ISP (Verizon) possibly being forced to reveal the name of one of their customers targeted by the RIAA (for those interested, I posted it in the General Gnutella / Gnutella Network Discussion section). As I started to look through the posts in that area to see if there were any similar stories, I began to realize how uninformed I have been on what's going on in the P2P world and how it is being battled by various media and software companies. Through one of those posts in that section, I also found a link to a Shareaza forum that explained a lot more of what has been going on and how their P2P program and others are trying to combat it.

Well, maybe by itself, Gnotella is or isn't "bad" for the network. But, judging by what I have been reading, it is definitely bad for the network in its current state of siege. Not only that, but if I read everything correctly, Gnotella could easily be bad for me in a few ways; none of which sound appealing.

Maybe I have guessed wrong, but I have the feeling it's issues like these that prompted the remarks that inspired my original post. Whether correct or not, I think it's time I finally say goodbye to Gnotella and go with Shareaza or maybe one of the others I haven't tried yet; if only so I don't have to keep re-adding my blocked hosts (the one thing I found irritating about Gnotella that they never got the chance to solve) since that list appears to be getting longer by the hour.

Sorry, ghost of Gnotella. I held out as long as I could, but now it's time to say goodbye.