The death of Xbtit FM
 

My experience...

Saddly, when we were starting out, we came across xbtit. And its idea, waht it WAS, seemed perfect.... a Code FULL of customizations, and features that can be controlled and turned on and off at the push of a button. So we installed it not having to much coding knoww how, nor a team built to help us... AND the fact that Janhouse bot, we could get to work on the code. So the big issues we had, were addressed, and we were excited and willing to pay 50 pounds a year. I mean, Comes with free support for any issue, what can go wrong?.....WELP.... we pay, get the code, and shoulda ran when it came to the install.

It was a NIGHTMARE. Being so out of date, you could not just install a linux distro and go, you have to change the versions of everything because xbtit is so out dated..... Well, no worries... we got support we pay for...right? WRONG. When asking for help, he send you to the old outdated and very lack luster install instructions which were no help due to errors we kept getting....but after some time and a few others helping we got it installed. must get better, right?

Once we get it installed, and get our SSL CERT working, maany site needed features break. Donation system wont register donations. Requests can not be filled...many "hacks" or features do not work or break the site...Hit and runs do not register... Buttons on the sign up and user profile pages " CHECK BOX TO FORCE SECURE CONNECTION" which once looked in to, broke user acnts, because it would add an S to the HTTP on the url bar, doing nothing but looking like your on aa secure connection, but then your site has SSL enabled, adding a SECOND S to the address... you cant view any pages and must go in to the DB and disable this per user.

So we started to utilize our payment for support... after about 2 months, and getting a scripted reply from the "dev" ( if you want to call him that) saying " I am looking in to this" we gave up and at this point had some members join the staff that could help out. I personally removed these buttons from the code in USER CP and the signup page so no one would break their acnt, We rebuilt the request system, hit and run system, the donation page, and many other bugs out there. At this point i have befriended other users on the forums, and most had similar or the same issues. The whole time I m trying to be friendly with "KiNg CoBrA" and he is just... not a very nice person. it became apparant he was out for taking as much money from people like me and not much more. I started to help other users, and then he went as far as to tell them " if you take any help or free work from thiss user, your acnt will be banned form the help forums" Because now people we not paying him MORE money to make fixes promised to you for your subscription fee. The most usefull info i got out of himm, was to tell me, SOMETIMES, MAYBE, where the files i needed to fix my self were located... Due to the fact this code has been around so long, changed so many haands, it is held together with tape and bubble gum, and the structure is just a mess and very hard to work on. So at this point, i am helping a handful of other users under the table. when the site hits around 9k users and 70k torrents we notice it slowing way down. The DB and the site are so inefficent, that loading the torrent page on my site, slams the DB with over 500 queries... so we decide to increase the machine its on... and even with 8 coores, 32 gigs of ram, and an enterprize SSD, the sites running slower then molassas thru a tuba.

THE DEATH...

Up until this point xbtit FM has been alive for one reason.... it is the only code of its kind... but it isnt even that any more. In its hayday, it was a code you could opperate with minimal coding knowledge, and nothing else is like it. but with the update by cobra breaking so much inbitally, this is not the case any more.older versions worked far bettter, and saddly cobra seems to be the final nail in the coffin for this code. at some point in the last year, Some one figured out the KEY you get when you pay, and enter during the install... does NOTHING and you can leave the slot for the key in instalation empty, this lead coder to make his biggest changes to the code to date........putting in a REAL system to protect his "investment" and then encrypting the INDEX.PHP file to prevent users from removing it... THEN adding the ability to shut your site off with the push of a button. After the code leakes for free all over the web, this guy files all the paper work and puts his address out there with his real name which can be found with a simple search to send takedown notices to these sites and people trying to prevent them from sharing the installer for xbtit FM V3.1. He put more effort in to this in a month, then any work on the dying, dated code... and that was the final straw for most users. To help the community, before this happened, i shared all my fixed files with him to release a bug fix update, and this rookie, not checking or testing anything, takes these files and just puts out an update, which messed up some users sites due to the fact their cusomt work and the lack of proofreading files to make sure that they work on a clean version of the code, was not done.... rather then try to fix it and keep save face, he blamed me and said all the issues were my fault 110% and then shit talked the only person helping him try to help his users. A user even comes up with a MANUAL, yes, not an auto scraper, but a IMDB block for the tracker, and this fool tells the users.... you may PAY me for it NOW, or wait for it to come out in a later update.... Selling code work others have made was his forte. He tried to sell a custom " FORCE THANK YOU" feature to a user, that was made by the previiious dev for another site. I get selling custom code work, but you are the DEV, and you took someone elses work, and try to sell it as your own... come one dude.... Aftter seeing him keep a tracker down for over a month trying to revert changes he made that broke their site when he said it would be a day MAX.... this was a big NO NO for me and most of the survivng xbtit sites. It is like giving a moneky a gun and loading it and racking the round, then setting him loose in a crowded area. This was the death (IMO) of Xbtit FM.

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL...

A new code is about to lauunch that will do the unique thing xbtit did, and require minimal knowledge of coding to fully work and customize your site. but that is for a different post.




CONCLUSION:

DO NOT make the same mistake as I, and many others have made. Stay away unless you want a code you need to constantly work on, is not secure, has many backdoors and vunerabilities, and will make you rip your hair out to work on and maintain. here are far better options, seeing as when your site hits a point that its growing, the site code itself can not handle it no matter your hardware. 5/10....and that is because the code itsself was GOOD, and been "alive" as long as it has, and if you want to spend time working on it, can do a fair amnt, but it is so dated and any feature you would expect from a tracker today.... is just not there.

Your so wrong your just pissed off because King Cobra booted you from the project because you either was breaking the code with your updates or wasn't doing what he asked you to do.
also One of the old coder has come back & is helping to code new features & they have fixed a lot & is almost done with getting it to run on PHP 8.x versions

Tosspot
 

Just a tosspot that can't code to save himself I wouldn't go near his new code with a bargepole.

XbtitFM is still going strong and is currently being fixed and optimized for PHP8x and will soon fully utilize PDO with prepared statements. Bug fixes are being done daily and the old codes and sloppy variables which used to work on older versions of php have been updated to work properly. So it is far from dead we still have subscribers and it's only going to get better!

To be fair, they are not incorrect in their statements. Have the following vulnerabilities ever been addressed?

• CVE-2021-45821
• CVE-2021-45822

It's worth noting the valid point raised about the queries used on the browse page. Loading page 1 can take over 500 queries. Perhaps it's worth considering moving the queries outside of loops?


The code is outdated and receives rare updates, which may explain why it is in the archive section. Nevertheless, I've observed a recurring pattern here: whenever someone raises issues regarding the source code or the attitude of the remaining maintainer, the maintainer responds using multiple aliases, creates a new account, gaslights the original poster, and eventually bans them from the support forums simply for expressing their opinion. This cycle then repeats itself.

Yes that has been fixed and I have had this account since 2008. The codebase is massive so it may take time but it is being updated by me an original developer.

Only reason Projectzomb aka nexus322 got banned is he broke some of our longest members sites with his messed up bug fixes that I had to fix & he kept giving me excuses why he wasn't doing what he was asked to do as a staff member on a trial bases to see what kind of coder he was.
He wasn't what this project needed as a coder so he was let go.


Bump: I don't hide from anyone I use the name everyone knows me by but people here don't like my postings so they deleted my account.
I just don't like thief's stealing my protected code that is why it has a license/update system now & is protected by DMCA also.

where could we see the code for what are we talking about here !?
i'd like a look at it, both of them
thx.
:coffee:

where ?

Yes, this.
I was one of those banned, for giving my opinions on this forum.

'

this forum as nothing to do with that one and should not ban anyone from it no on...what i would say to everyone do not go there power heads that do not like being told via this forum take your money and ban you.... over 10 or more years ago when lupin owned it back before it was called xbitfm i even got banned after a week for speaking out so yes keep away from them ...this not the way to go ripping payed customs off not the way to go also the customs should not lick the arse for isomething to get done oh its called a ban

I try to keep out of debates such as this, but I feel I need to add my 2 cents, the code is actually one of the best around, I myself currently use it and have done for the last 4/5 years until I started getting annoyed at some answers aimed at my support post, I have no ill feelings towards cobra or the code, but I stopped paying for it, one of my main reason(s) for this knowing the dev can cut you off, just like xam could with his code, kingcobra says he's done this because of people stealing his code and his hacks etc, so now he's added DMCA protection to his new v4.1, it is good to see the old coder cooly back, between him and lupin they builded a very nice code back in the days, I have kepted away from visiting the dev site for personal reasons, my last visit shows the support is stepping up again with the input of cooly and they are trying to upgrade most things.

As for people getting banned for voicing their viewpoints, this is one of the most important points which needs addressing at xbitFM site, having a sensitive approach to users who pay for their subscriptions on a yearly basis is the only downside other than this, the xbitFM code is nice to use as a tracker, some things I hope have improved such as the H&R system in the upgrade.......

@Thanks to nexus322 and thartley55 :ok:

thartley55 aka obiwan got banned for breaking rules & flaming users & the staff after being warned to stop doing it several times but he kept on doing it so he got banned.

As for nexus322 he is not a very good coder when he breaks code that messed up a persons tracker & won't do what he was asked to do as a coder he failed.

also I wouldn't go to papad's tracker because his tracker has security issues that hasn't been fixed like what has been fixed in the current v4.1.25

For one thing, twat, I don't care anymore that I was banned for voicing my opinions. I'll continue to do so.
And you saying that papad's tracker has security issues...well the security issues (if any) are due to your coding on the 'supposedly' final version of FM 3.1.
So you, KingCobra, can just fuck right off.

Let me tell you something i am staff on xbtitfm for nearly 13 years, if anyone gets banned it is for a good god damn reason, e.g giving cheek an abuse to other members or staff is not tolerated! you will be banned for this end of story regardless. Let me tell you something Projectzomb/nexus322 you were one of them.



xbtitfm is still running strong mater of fact even stronger than ever, don't get me wrong we have our ups and downs BUT things get sorted.


There is now v4.1.25 who can argue with that we keep going and going we are strong and updating/customizing code on a daily basis.


So Projectzomb/nexus322 you are so full of shit and obiwan

Would anyone like to join my tracker feel free to do so we are very friendly! obiwan you are already a member there.


xbtitfm all the way!

Well well...here's the input from 'mini-me' skangster.
And, did not know that is your site.
The go ahead and disable/delete me from there.

No i will let you play the fool that you are

Yeah, the owner of the script can 'give cheek' and bad-mouth his members, and be belligerent. But if someone calls him on it, or disputes anything he says, he considers that as abuse...and temp-locks his members.
You both are a couple of hypocrites...and are made for each other.

I know the staff from XBTIT/XBTITFM for many years, I'm active on that forums from 2008, they are a hard working bunch.

Don't mind me.

It don't matter. I'm through with all y'all...and this thread.

You are a stupid person if you think kc does that, i hope you have proof you muppet




Bump:

Yeah cause you cannot win, and we at xbtitfm know you are full of shit,trying putting us down forget it, we stick together remember this part.

There would of been valid reasons for being banned from the forum but any paid subscription would of remained in that case.

Not in my case, as I was STILL on a paid subscription, which makes it suck more. But whatever.
I always tried to keep the subscription current.
I can see where that got me. Can't even speak my mind on that place.
Fuck it.

@darkie you were another member who was abusive to staff and members, and aggressive behaviour. take down my link all you want BUT you will not take down xbtitfm regardless, we grow stronger remember that.

This debate is allowed as long as it's civilized. So far so good

This post has nothing in the OP that was not true. I DEFF did not say anything about OBI, I did not have facts about that situation. All I will comment on, is what i physically endured and had to fix. I, on multiple ocassions, told cobra " I am ONLY here to help you and this code and the people using it". I never asked for anything in return, no money, nothing, aside from being ablee to aask cobra where files were so we could fix issues on our site as the framework for xbtit is such a mess at this point. The deal I made with him as i was NOT going to pay for "support" I was not getting, but GIVING to other users, I would help him with dealing with issues and build the code up on the Xbtit forum. You will NEVER find me being rude or mean on that forum. I was banned because it got to the point i was just helping the users one on one, as I could be reached at any time of the day on skype and discord. This upset cobra when on a few ocassions he got upset with me for doing work on others sites for free when he said it was "custom work" and that when he did custom work he expected to be paid for.... WHICH I AGGREE WITH, but when it is fixing things that came with the code, that is just FIXING the code... Not doing CUSTOM work.

Once my tracker got to the point it is at in size, and the inefficent way xbtit fm runs, it just can not keep up, we started to build a new code from scratch, which was for my site and my site alone. Well when I had 4 users ofxbtit FM come to me asking me about the new code when i told them i would be moving on, as even after I left the forums ( yes I got in trouble because the only active xbtit users left that needed help would message me OFF the site for fear they would be spied on by cobra) we decided to at the very least allow them to use it as well. I helped others... to help them. Me an my coders were doing the work that the dev refused to do..FOR FREE. I NEVER asked for a penny from anybody I helped, and I actually helped them. Just go look up everry interaction I had in the forums. I was never rude, and aside from asking for help for the same shit for over 2 months, I never did anything wrong on there. I just stopped visititng because it was 100% pointless and then one day a month after it happened I see a skype msg saying that the acnt was suspended and I was ok with that due to thte fact I stopped going on the site..

This was nothing more than a personal experence, That the person I was doing free work for ( to be fair, I was doing it to help users that were in my posistion) was so hard to talk to, cold, kinda mean, demanding, and entitled... as I go thru our skype converstion right now, ( and I will post screenshots at this point backing what I said, because unlike some of the things I am seeing here, every single thing I said can be backed by facts) everytime i wished him a happy holiday or aasked how he was( I specifically see thnksgiving, christmas day and then a few days after,) I would get ignored, and if i recall, all the fixes me and my team made, and i sent to yoou, worked... EVEN From your following message cobra..."2) you only sent me like 2 mods that wouldn't work on anyone's tracker & only on my localhost" To address this, between me and my team there was a 'Freeleech Pool' 'Invite promo code feature' 'HnR fixes' *so they would actually work* Fixed the 'Fill Request' issue that SSL sites could not fill requests, removed the 'SECURE CONNECTION' Buttons from USer CP and Sign up pages when FORCE SSL was enabled that would cause the users that checked them to be locked out until you went to the DB and fixed that, The donation system that would not register any donation perks to the userswith cobras "custom" donation page... and a few other fixes for FREE(Technically, I got an acnt to the forums that was only given to me to help other people... I did not benifit from this seeing as at this point I had a code team that was helping me fix all the abbove issues... issues I asked the dv to look in to for months when we started out and kept blowing me off, that is alllllll there in the forums, go look your self.) RATHER THEN A THANK YOU OR GOOD JOB, I just got barked at... and If the fixes and mods worked on your localhost , which you said they did, Then how in the same sentence can you say they were bad because they didnt work on other users sites? If they worked on your localhost, but when you tried to copy pase them in to customized sites, that means that there was nothing wrong with the fixes, and If you had applied them PROPERLY (like I had done with two sites other than my own) you would have had the biggest update to the code sense you were the sole dev/coder on the project.. The fact that I KNEW you could not just copy and paste new bits of code with out looking for custom work or making it a bit different for everyones site as everybodys xbtit code was a mess due to the way people had to fix things their own ways, and you did not is kind of scary. I ha been using the code for a few months, you were the LEAD DEV. If it wworked on your local host, a non customized version of the site, but broke customized versions, then the way it was implemented was the issue, not the fixes. My site worked, the other sites i implemented it properly on worked... so what was my fault? Giving you fixes you could not do? give you some new mods? I obviously owed you nothing, and i ONLY wanted a line of communication to the forums at this point to help the friends I had made, but they all would just skype or discord me.

I can post screen shots of the conversation that went on between me and cobra on skype, this was not my intention in anyway, but I do not like being lied about or told that I am not speaking facts about what happened to me. I just have learned that there are some conversations you do not want to remove. The sad part is, that most of the membbers that use xbtit FM for its inital reason, they do not have a coder and need a code to run on that caters to this and xbtit WAS this exact code, are just waiting for the new code that was built to launch to move over to. I guess the fact someone finally made a replacement will show that most people using xbtit have no other options, as no other code was built with this in mind. Now another code is coming that DOES have this in mind, people can go someplace else. All this post was, ws my experence with the code. It did not need Biased replies from people that were not there at the time, and do not have proof of anything they said. This is a forum site about codes. I did just that. Talked about an experence I had with a code so other people can see what a user went thru and use that when they are looking at codes. There is not a site out there that even calls Xbtit "Active" and every place I am on, I see stories similar to mine about the fact they were ignord when they needed help. I mean, you can see it by just going thru the xbtit forum, unless thoes were all deleted, which I could see happening. Just remember, I have proof of what I said. I would rather not start posting screenshots, but do not tell me what i said did not happen. and if you were not there, and just were told about things from the other party, maybe getting the whole story would make you not look so bad when you talk and you were very much so, misinformed. I have said my bits, I am sorry you guys were misinformed,, but ill post the screen shots that kidna prove yall wrong, becasue while im sure the posts that would show all this on the xbtit site were deleted, our skyp convo was not that was the main way me and cobra talked. :)

I can respect defending your project, but do it with facts, and when on a site lie this with a dozen active users, you have multiple others that have had similar experences as I have, kinda pushes even farther that there is an issue that you guys are ignoring. Your replies had nothing about the fact bits of my post (lack of support, being brushed off, broken bits of the code, how inefficent it is,) I hope that now with coders that know what they are doing they can help the users left, but with a big chunk packing their bags and moving codes in the next week or 2, and the name that cobra has given xbtit ( try searching other sites about trackers and their coes and look at everybody else that had the EXACT same issues as the handfull of people here)The damage has been done to the xbtit name and there is just no coming back. The code needs more then "fixes".... It looks like its 15 years old, and the feed back from the 10K + users my tracker has running it will also confirm the fact that it is so dated looking, unless you fully rebuilt things, its putting bubble gum in a hole in a sinking boat. Good luck trying to fix the code and its rep, I will always have a soft spot for people that were in my postion for the many months before I was able to fix everything broken in my site with out help from the dev i paid to fix the issues in his own code. Good day all!

well its tits up with em