ilCorSaRoNeRo

Introduction

With so many torrent sites out there nowadays to choose from, how on earth are you supposed to figure out which one is the best for you? It seems like a new torrent site is launched every single day. This is, of course, both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it never hurts to have another option. Especially when it comes to those particularly hard to find indie torrent files. On the other hand, though, the market of torrent trackers is a bit oversaturated at this point. It can make the decision-making process a lot more difficult than is necessary.

What are You Looking for in a Torrent Search Engine? – This is the million-dollar question. This is what it really boils down to. What do you hope to get out of your torrent tracker of choice? As there are many different types of sites to choose from, identifying what you hope to get out of a torrent site can make it much easier to track down the tracker you need.

Maybe, for instance, your biggest concern is being able to draw from the largest archive of free indie torrent files possible. Perhaps it is a numbers game for you. If so, well, that is the first thing that you will want to look for … how many torrents a tracker has. Actually, better yet, if it’s quantity you are after, a torrent search engine may be better suited for your needs than an individual torrent tracker – search engines, not unlike Google, draw from a variety of sources, as opposed to just one community of peers.

Local or Global? – This is another very important (even if underdiscussed) aspect to take into account when evaluating torrent sites. Whereas globally oriented torrent trackers are great for finding just about anything, any kind of free indie media, from around the world … they can pose some cultural and/or linguistic barriers. Subtitles or audio of free indie movies may be in a foreign language, for instance. Or you may have trouble finding your favorite Italian free indie band’s latest album. If this is an issue, a more locally centered torrent tracker may be for you.

Speaking of Italy, today’s torrent site that we will be looking at is 100% Italian. If you are looking for free Italian indie movies, free indie TV shows, free indie music, free indie video games, free indie eBooks, etc., Il Corsaro Nero might be just what you’ve been waiting for.

Il Corsaro Nero – A public Italian torrent tracker, Il Corsaro Nero is definitely one of the more unique torrent trackers that I have seen in a while. But let’s see if it is as functional as it is novel, shall we?

Design

The site layout of Il Corsaro Nero is pretty unremarkable at first glance. But I am going to assert that this is actually a good thing, that it works to the site’s benefit. Nobody wants a torrent tracker site that gets bogged down in unnecessary information or cluttered border to border nonsense, right?  Il Corsaro Nero does not try to be anything that it is not. I can respect that in a torrent tracker, even if it is not the most visually stunning site in the world.

Home Page – When you visit ilcorsaronero.xyz, you will be greeted by a very unassuming site build. There will be a sharp logo at the top of the page, alongside a search bar. You’ll find a site menu bar as well, right below.

Inner Pages – The pages within the site, though, I should note, are not all designed to the same standard it seems. Browsing by clicking on “Sfoglia,” for instance brings up a very sloppy categorized list of content with tags for subcategories within them. This looks like amateur web design.

Torrent Info Pages – Here is another area for improvement. Upon clicking into a torrent’s info page, I expect to find a wealth of information on every file listed. There are plenty of torrent trackers out there, for instance, that offer up screenshots, trailers, credit info, trivia, comments sections, etc. On Il Corsaro Nero, however, all you will find are the basic specs of the file itself, maybe a brief description of the content in question, what are contained in the file, the uploader, file size, and file age. Some users are good enough to go the extra mile, but they are a little too few and far between.

To this site’s credit, though, they do make some attempt at offering a little bit more in the realm of social features. Each torrent info page, for example, comes with a few emoticons that you can choose to react, as well as an ability to rate the torrent. I don’t know about you, but that is not enough for me.

Content and Features

Speaking of social features, the one thing that is most blatantly missing from this site is its comments section. This is often where users go to discuss a torrent’s health, or to warn others if a torrent file is corrupted or potentially malicious. Without this in place, surely Il Corsaro Nero has a verified torrents system in place.

Well, unfortunately, it does not appear to have a system of torrent verification. Which does not instill a great deal of confidence. I am not saying that Il Corsaro Nero is not a safe torrent tracker, I am only saying that Il Corsaro Nero does not have enough safety measures in place for my liking.

User Activity – Hopefully, then, if Il Corsaro Nero does not have comments enabled or verified torrents, at the very least its community of peers should be very active, right? Unfortunately, that is not the case either. Far too many torrents have 0 seeders and 0 leechers. Which means that you have just about a 0% chance of successfully executing a download. Even the healthy torrents have a pretty small margin (say, 30 seeders to 10 leechers or so). This, I suppose, is the downside to utilizing such a local torrent client.

That being said, it’s not like you won’t be able to download torrents here. You certainly will. Unfortunately, though, your selection may be a bit limited due to underactivity.

Mobile and Desktop Experience

To Il Corsaro Nero’s credit, they do have a fully functional mobile site. And it’s not half bad, especially considering the fact that torrent tracker sites and torrent search engines are notorious for not optimizing their sites for mobile browsing.

Ads – Although there are ads on this site, they are fairly tame. They are not obnoxious and everywhere you look for one thing. Also, they are family friendly. So, if you can put up with the occasional in-page window ad for Brigg’s Apple Cider Vinnegar, the ads should not be a problem on this site.

Suggestions that I have for Il Corsaro Nero

Okay, I think that Il Corsaro Nero has a great deal of potential as an Italian torrent tracker. A few things need to happen, though, for this site to live up to its potential.

First, we need more user engagement. Perhaps Il Corsaro Nero could set up a system of incentives to encourage users to vote, react, seed, and upload more frequently.

Next, we need comments on torrent files and a torrent verification system. Put both of these things into motion and your users will feel significantly safer and more comfortable downloading from your torrent site.

Thirdly, although I normally appreciate the stripped-down site design, I think that it might be time for a site makeover. Make things a little more experiential, add some interactive functions, give us a reason to want to come back.