Comment by vgeek

What do you mean queuing? Are you thinking of the xdcc channels on IRC where end users would download releases (with publicly declared throttles) from typically hacked consumer computers on high speed dsl or cable connections (typically via netbios and no admin password)? Or just public FTPs (honeypots) of some sort?

The entire intro of this book covers the concept of prestige between topsites. A SE or CH topsite with OC3 and 2tb with top tier affils was obviously amazing. The need to be first was important, that was kind of the whole point. This is evidenced by groups releasing dupes getting said release nuked, the whole concept of racing (users simultaneously uploading zip/rxx files) with the sitebot declaring a winner based on % uploaded and site level nukes by a sitebot if the release was pre'd more than X minutes prior.

0day was the side door into a lot of sites. There was so much shareware that could be patched or unlocked with a serial with relatively little effort vs AAA game or movie releases. If your group affilled (initiate their releases on affiled site) you would be able to get a number of leech accounts (way more valuable than ratio accounts) on said site based on how prestigious your group was. Couriers were more disposable, as they had no ties to a release group (there were courier groups). Their primary function was to increase "liquidity" of content between different tiers of sites.