Nuke (warez)

This article refers to nukes for individual warez releases. For "topsite" nukes, see Topsite (warez)#Credit system.

In the warez scene, nuke refers to labeling content as "bad", for reasons which might include unusable software, bad video/audio quality, virus-infected content, deceptively labeled (fake) content or not following the rules. Also duplicates and stolen releases from other pirates that do not attribute the other pirates will be nuked.[1][2] When a scene release is "nuked", a message is attached to its listing informing other sceners of its "nuked" status, as well as the specific nature of the problem.[3]

Contrary to what the term implies, a nuke does not actually destroy offending content or prevent anyone from downloading it. A nuke merely serves as a cautionary flag to potential users. The person that uploaded the nuked content to a site will lose credits.[2]

Contents

Issuing and removing nukes

Global nukes

Titles can only be officially labeled as "nuked" by people who have special access to a listing database, often referred to as "nukers". The nuke is issued by a nuke command in a nuke channel.[4] For example:

!nuke release reason
!unnuke release reason
!modnuke release reason

Erroneous nukes are usually "un-nuked" easily, by the same people who have access to issue nukes, that nukes and unnukes happen on irc. These nuke networks have their own guidelines on how to nuke a release.[5] In 2008, twelve of those nuke networks created a coalition to work together "to ensure nukers bias, nukewars and many other problems that plague the nuke scene become a thing of the past."[6]

Local nukes

Local nukes or site nukes can be issued by a topsite administrator and are only applicable to that site. Each individual site has rules for which kind of releases that are allowed. e.g. no VCD releases. Hence a locally nuked release can still be valid.

For more details on this topic, see Topsite (warez)#Credit system.

Nukewars

A release that gets nuked or unnuked more than four times, is called a nukewar.[3][6]

Example[7] of a nukewar. The first two columns represent the time when the release was pred or when a nuke was issued. The next column is the category of the release.[3][8] In this example two releases were released at almost the same time.

2007-03-08 04:15:26	Tv	Crossing.Jordan.S06E07.HDTV.XviD-NoTV
2007-03-08 04:15:32	Tv	Crossing.Jordan.S06E07.HDTV.XviD-XOR
2007-03-08 04:16:16	NUKES	Crossing.Jordan.S06E07.HDTV.XviD-NoTV  NUKED   dupe.XOR.same.day
2007-03-08 04:20:21	NUKES	Crossing.Jordan.S06E07.HDTV.XviD-XOR   NUKED   lost.race.to.NoTV
2007-03-08 04:21:59	NUKES	Crossing.Jordan.S06E07.HDTV.XviD-NoTV  NUKED   dupe.XOR.03-07-2007
2007-03-08 04:22:46	NUKES	Crossing.Jordan.S06E07.HDTV.XviD-NoTV  UNNUKE  fix
2007-03-08 04:23:12	NUKES	Crossing.Jordan.S06E07.HDTV.XviD-NoTV  NUKED   dupe.XOR.2007-03-07
2007-03-08 04:23:46	NUKES	Crossing.Jordan.S06E07.HDTV.XviD-NoTV  UNNUKE  NoTV.pred.first
2007-03-08 04:24:47	NUKES	Crossing.Jordan.S06E07.HDTV.XviD-XOR   NUKED   dupe.NoTV.2007-03-08
2007-03-08 04:38:41	NUKES	Crossing.Jordan.S06E07.HDTV.XviD-XOR   UNNUKE  is.fine
2007-03-08 04:39:23	NUKES	Crossing.Jordan.S06E07.HDTV.XviD-NoTV  NUKED   dupe.XOR.2007-03-08
2007-03-08 05:18:23	NUKES	Crossing.Jordan.S06E07.HDTV.XviD-NoTV  UNNUKE  won.race
2007-03-08 05:18:50	NUKES	Crossing.Jordan.S06E07.HDTV.XviD-XOR   NUKED   dupe.NoTV.2007-08-03
2007-03-08 05:20:22	NUKES	Crossing.Jordan.S06E07.HDTV.XviD-XOR   UNNUKE  fixing
2007-03-08 05:24:03	NUKES	Crossing.Jordan.S06E07.HDTV.XviD-XOR   UNNUKE  fix_won.race.against.NoTV

Another source will shows different timestamps.[9] The clock of a computer is not always accurate. This and the difference in timezone explain the time difference. This shows why this nukewar was started.

2007-03-08 03:14:07     TV-XVID Crossing.Jordan.S06E07.HDTV.XviD-XOR
2007-03-08 03:14:14     TV-XVID Crossing.Jordan.S06E07.HDTV.XviD-NoTV

Another example is the nukewar about the TDRS2K10 ruleset.[10][11] The name between the square brackets is the nuke network where the nuke originates from. Each of those networks in this example is also a council member network.[6]

Nuked on 2009-11-14 15:15:09 
crap_signing.grps.are.crap_for.small.changes.create.a.adendum [LocalNet]
Unnuked on 2009-11-14 15:20:56 
this.ruleset.is.real.and.legit.leave.it.alone [oneNET]
Nuked on 2009-11-14 20:51:10
signing.grps.are.crap_for.small.changes.create.an.adendum.or.rebuttal.to.tdrs2k9_invalid.ruleset [Nuclear]
Unnuked on 2009-11-14 20:52:23
invalid.nuke_nukenets.do.not.have.the.authority.to.invalidate.rulesets_such.things.are.left.to.section.groups.and.leaders [LocalNet]
Nuked on 2009-11-14 20:52:25
signing.grps.are.crap_for.small.changes.create.an.adendum.or.rebuttal.to.tdrs2k9_invalid.ruleset [Nuclear]
Unnuked on 2009-11-14 20:52:26
invalid.nuke_nukenets.do.not.have.the.authority.to.invalidate.rulesets_such.things.are.left.to.section.groups.and.leaders [LocalNet]
Nuked on 2009-11-14 21:23:31
no.leading.groups.signed_valid.nuke_2k5.was.rewritten.with.2k9.inserts_release.a.rebuttal.or.addendum [Nuclear]
Unnuked on 2009-11-14 21:55:04
invalid.nuke_nukenets.do.not.have.the.authority.to.invalidate.rulesets_such.things.are.left.to.section.groups.and.leaders_it.is.not.your.duty.to.decide.which.groups.are.good.enough [LocalNet]

Examples

Examples of content that could be "nuked" include non-working software, non-working cracks, videos with out-of-sync audio, watermarked videos, or music recordings with excessive "skips". The reason for a nuke is based on violations of the standards that must be followed.

Pre network

Pre network (aka Nukenet) is a collection of databases which share information about releases among the members of the network. There are approximately 20 different pre networks.[12] Peers can be linked to more than one network. Linking to other network provides information which isn't available on peers local pre network. Such information can be .sfv or .nfo files etc.

Pre database

Each release that gets released will result as a record in a pre-database.[13] This record will at least contain the time the release was released and the releasename (the name of the folder that contains the files of the release).[14] Nukes are linked with their release in these databases when a nuke is issued. To check if a release is nuked, a scener uses an irc channel to query the database by typing commands. These irc channels are called pre channels and are often not accessible for the general public.[15] The database is updated automatically through spidering topsites or by catching pre-release announcements from site channels.[14]

List of public predb websites

There are now several public websites and irc channels that list the contents of pre-databases. Most of them are regularly updated and show nuke reasons next to their release. Some of these are regularly down or very slow when searching. Some of them show the server time.

Pre channel

A pre channel is an IRC channel in which a prebot announces new warez (pre) releases in real time. Pre channels are generally provided as a convenience to members of the scene, often in conjunction with a topsite. Pre channels are typically private.

Advantages:

Disadvantages:

List of public irc pre channels

References

  1. ^ "TV release rules v1.5". 2002-11-16. http://rules.nukenet.info/t.html?id=2002_TV.nfo. "A release is considered as a NUKE, if: It's a DUPE. It has technical issues. Wrong or no source/cap information is specified in the .nfo." 
  2. ^ a b Craig, Paul; Ron, Mark (April 2005). "Chapter 5: The Release". In Burnett, Mark. Software Piracy Exposed - Secrets from the Dark Side Revealed. Publisher: Andrew Williams, Page Layout and Art: Patricia Lupien, Acquisitions Editor: Jaime Quigley, Copy Editor: Judy Eby, Technical Editor: Mark Burnett, Indexer: Nara Wood, Cover Designer: Michael Kavish. United States of America: Syngress Publishing. pp. 96–102. doi:10.1016/B978-193226698-6/50030-1. ISBN 1-93226-698-4. Lay summary. "Ironically, pirates who steal from other pirates will have their own releases nuked. Honor among thieves; pirates do not steal from other pirates." 
  3. ^ a b c "Funniest nuke reasons ever". 2009-05-12. http://filenetworks.blogspot.com/2009/06/scene-nukewars-funniest-nuke-reasons.html. 
  4. ^ "Basic nuke channel rules". http://scenerules.irc.gs/rules.html. 
  5. ^ "oneNET nuke net rules". 2008-04-18. http://justsomerules.synthasite.com/onenet-rules.php. 
  6. ^ a b c "The.2008.Nuke.Ruleset-NukeCouncil". http://rules.nukenet.info/p.html?id=2008_NC.nfo. 
  7. ^ "Hellgate London: nukewar between ViTALiTY and FLT". http://www.rlslog.net/hellgate-london-vitality-vs-flt/. 
  8. ^ "Crossing Jordan: nukewar between NoTV and XOR". http://doopes.com/index.php?cat=33792&lang=0&num=2&mode=0&from=&to=&exc=&inc=Crossing.Jordan.S06E07&opt=0. 
  9. ^ a b "OrlyDB.com search result". http://orlydb.com/?q=Crossing.Jordan.S06E07.  Site name is based on the O RLY? Internet phenomenon.
  10. ^ "THE.2010.DVDR.RELEASING.STANDARDS-TDRS2K10 nukes". http://pre.zerosec.ws/?cmd=search&pre=THE.2010.DVDR.RELEASING.STANDARDS-TDRS2K10. 
  11. ^ "Scene DVDR Releasing Standards 2010 (TDRS2K10)". http://filenetworks.blogspot.com/2009/11/scene-dvdr-releasing-standards-2010.html. 
  12. ^ "Incomplete list of Nukenets". http://scenegrouplist.com/lists_nukenets.php. 
  13. ^ "27 Years of Warez Scene Release Info Leaked in Giant Database". http://torrentfreak.com/27-years-of-warez-scene-release-info-leaked-in-giant-database/. 
  14. ^ a b "The scene / topsite system". Archived from the original on 2007-01-22. http://web.archive.org/web/20070122030345/www.aboutthescene.com/thescene/system.html. 
  15. ^ "TRAC3.ME – Public PreDB, Scene Release Index and Torrent Tracer". 2010-02-25. http://filenetworks.blogspot.com/2010/02/trac3me-public-predb-scene-release.html. "Trace.M3 maintains a pre database that indexes hundreds of scene and p2p releases daily. However, T.ME’s PreDB differs from those run by pure sceners – first of all it’s publicly accessibly by anyone." 
  16. ^ "Which Torrent Sites Get Releases The Fastest (and why it’s not a secret)". Tracing. TorrentFreak. http://torrentfreak.com/which-torrent-sites-get-releases-the-fastest-and-why-its-not-a-secret-101106/. Retrieved 6 November 2010. 
  17. ^ Whitson, Gordon. "Corrupt-Net Shows You Which Torrent Trackers Get New Releases First". Tracers. LifeHacker. http://lifehacker.com/5683783/corrupt+net-shows-you-which-torrent-trackers-get-new-releases-first. Retrieved 7 November 2010. 
  18. ^ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named www.prelist.ws; see Help:Cite errors/Cite error references no text
  19. ^ enigmax (2007-05-18). "TorrentFreak - Interview with a scene insider". TorrentFreak. http://torrentfreak.com/shining-light-on-the-warez-darknet-a-scene-insider-speaks/.  Scener mentions bullshit nukes.

External links