Option C is to just go without, but apparently I'm the only fool doing that

If there's nothing to watch then don't subscribe to four different services. Streaming gives you more say in which channels/services you get than cable does.

I mean nobody is going to give you a medal for doing it so why deprive yourself?

Isn’t Pirate Bay loaded with ads?

Thanks to "arr, I haven't had to even look at an indexer in years. I don't miss manually trolling for torrents.

Not when you're using Firefox with uBlock Origin. Don't use any pirate sites without a good ad blocker.

More like $165/month

The feeling of smug superiority is its own reward.

I frequently listen to my coworkers/mutuals list how many streaming services they have and how much they cost a month, leaving the proper maths to only to the listeners because they won't hear the real bill.. I had to quit one that cost "only" 19€ per month because I wasn't able to afford it anymore!

aand that's exactly what we do 😜

More like the feeling of not contributing to the problem, if anything I'm worse-placed for not knowing "general culture" references

disney, prime, netflix is mostly slop anyways.

i cant imagine paying for 5+streaming which would easly be 100+, plus most of the shows/movies, they allocate all the resources to that one show but neglecting another.

Yeah, same. Everything is like 20-25 per month if not more, it just doesn't make sense. Or 10-15 WITH ADS? Why would I pay for watching ads? But they say they have to have all the +5 services, because they watch one, spouse the other and the kids want these..

And that is valid.

I have never subscribed any of these streaming services. The pressure from friends was intense but at the end of the day I simply felt no need and even less appeal to it.

Nowadays, I hear those same friends how expensive it has become to keep all of these services to follow their interests and how the catalogue has been degrading.

I sincerely do not care.

I have the blessing and the curse of never having had the chance of having a social life. No peer pressure in exchange for no support network. Not quite the fair deal, but I must do with what I have.

Why do people STILL recommend TPB in 2026? It's shady af.

I have been out of the 🏴‍☠️scene for a while and this was the most trusted one back in the days.
Are there other alternatives now?

Don't use any pirate sites without a good ad blocker

I think it's more a generalised phrase, like when you Google something, but you don't actually use Google. Saying to look at / use pirate bay doesn't mean the exact site, just means to pirate it somehow.

I would recommend 1337 instead. Has pretty much every category like TPB.

But if you are interested in self hosting, check our Arr stack for full automation and jellyfin as media center.

Thanks a lot

Nah, semi-private trackers are better.

Shady how? It ends up being the right place for 99% of my torrents.

Same

Every time I recommend a show and they ask me where they can watch it.

Fuck if I know.

between strem.io and *arrs you never have to touch a pirate site friend

Literal NPCs lol. How can people be this financially illiterate? It's like NOT consuming sth is an idea that never crosses their minds. Like they need to have everything, even if they don't need it.

Uindex, but it's recent stuff only.

These are the same people that also spend 10k annually on drive through coffee, work cafeteria lunches and second coffee, then takeout for dinner; while also complaining how expensive everything is and how poor they are. The word "budget" isn't in their dictionary

I was getting something from TPB and got an email from Nintendo when I forgot to turn on my VPN.

Lol let them email as much as they want. I'm not Gary Bowser.

Thanks

I mean that has nothing to do with tpb but just you not force binding vpn adapter to your torrent client

Media conglomerates insist that if people can't afford their prices, then they should go without their product. I'm doing exactly that to show a point - namely, that they're not as necessary for a good living as they think they are.

Well as shady as a midnight walk to the convenient store... So not actually that bad.

Lol that's how i always get caught.

I've never torrented with a VPN. I guess nobody cares in South Africa

In a sense I do think this kind of approach matters more than people give it credit for. Most people tend to see piracy as a way to consume media without supporting the rightsholders of that media, but even pirated consumption is still support.

A person who is, say, pirating Harry Potter books and other media is still giving Rowling and her franchise and ideas space in their head, maybe contributing to further conversations about her, and overall inadvertently promoting her whether they like it or not - as opposed to having used that time and energy to consume media from someone more worth the time and effort, like say, Ursula Le Guin.

For example I was watching a video from a YouTuber who does controller reviews. In that video he briefly mentioned two controllers that were of such poor quality that they were literally unusable. He went on to say that he would not be making videos about them, because he found that even when he goes out of his way to give a controller the worst review possible, tons of people still buy them.

Personally, I think that information freedom matters enough that anything published under licenses that are more restrictive than copyleft, permissive ones, or straight public domain is unethical. If private property is theft, and it is, that absolutely extends into knowledge and culture as well. If I were a purist about that, I would go out of my way to use things like the fully free Linux distros, and only consume media under those aforementioned licenses. Truth be told I don't though, I do pirate corporate media sometimes. But I do try to give space where it counts too - trying to use some time and energy to seek out any kind of media that's more open.

Tl;dr: play Battle for Wesnoth.

What's the expert opinion on using Stremio with the extra add-ons for streaming? Seems a little too easy and convenient to be true.

I can't help but wonder what they get out of it, and how safe it is. Am I overthinking it?

That is indeed my philosophy - "even pirated consumption is still support" in the form of giving a platform, publicity, or space in your brain. Even further so considering the many, many problematic artists out there, and the many other artists that have collaborated with them, making entire genres nearly unconscionable as a result.

As long you downloading only video/music content you are safe. The worst outcome could be only wrong content

Everytime I look for alternates I end up with sites that offer torrents of movies that end in .exe. so I end up going back to TPB.

Been using 1337x for years with no issues

EDIT: Do not go there without ublock tho

I wanted to watch the most recent Rick & Morty season today. Had to look up what streaming service it was on, then had to download the app, but just before I texted my wife to ask what the credentials were (she pays for streaming stuff), I remembered that I could just go download it. So I did. And proceeded to watch 5 episodes with zero ads and zero interruption.

Did Nintendo email you, or did your ISP forward you a DMCA notice?

Ditto. Kinda miss my private tracker. But, 1337x + VPN works fine for me.

oh yeah now that I think it was a forward from my ISP about the Nintendo DMCA notice?