The Pirate Bay is known for its refusal to accept takedown requests from copyright holders. However, that doesn't mean that the site keeps all files that are uploaded, quite the contrary. Week in and week out a dedicated team of moderators removes thousands of torrents to keep the site from turning into a The Spam Bay. Today we talk to a few of them.

At TorrentFreak we regularly receive concerned emails from Pirate Bay users who have spotted an influx of suspicious torrents on the popular torrent site.

These torrents usually carry the name of popular new TV-shows or movies, and appear to be shared by thousands of people.

However, those who download the torrents will soon notice that the video files won’t playing. Instead, they urge downloaders to install suspicious software, or worse.

This spam phenomenon is not new and neither is it limited to The Pirate Bay. However, it does appear to have gotten worse in recent years, something several of the site’s moderators confirm today.

Most regular users of the site are probably unaware of the efforts ‘invisible’ moderators have to put into the site to keep it clean day in and day out.

To lift a corner of the veil we reached out to a few crew members to ask about the influx of spam, torrent removals, and their motivations to contribute to the site for free.

First up: who are these moderators and why do they volunteer to keep the site clean?

“We’re all ordinary downloaders at heart who share a love for TPB with millions of others. We put in the hours because we love helping others and we love TPB,” Spud17 tells us.

“I believe in the ideals TPB represents, that sharing is a fundamental human right,” veteran crew member Xe adds.

The overarching theme is that the moderators identify with The Pirate Bay’s ideal to share everything freely, without restrictions. Ironically, however, a large part of their job involves removing torrents, mostly fakes and spam.

“The Crew remove hundreds of thousands of fakes and torrents infested with malware, spyware etcetera. Spam and child porn are also removed,” Spud17 says.

While spam has always been an issue, it’s sometimes hard to contain. At some hours of the day there are no mods available to deal with it, which may result in batches of suspicious content getting through.

“The Crew volunteer their time as and when they can, so it’s inevitable that there’ll be periods where the fakes have piled up for a few hours. Users are welcome to report bad torrents and uploaders on our forum, and on our IRC channel,” Spud17 says.

“I should also mention that sometimes we delete legitimate torrents by mistake. We’re human. We have a forum where people can appeal such calls,” Xe adds.

The Pirate Bay crew recommends downloaders to use common sense, and educate themselves on how fake files and spam can be detected. And in case of doubt, it’s best to avoid newly uploaded content, they say.

“The best defense for TPB users against the fakers is knowledge. Read the FAQ on our forum and pay particular attention to the section on finding torrents – if you read and understand that, you should be able to spot the fakes easily,” Spud17 says.

In any case, fake files and spam never stay on the site for long.

“The important thing for downloaders to know is that the vast majority of crap is dealt with by staff within a day, but often much quicker,” Xe adds.

All moderators we talked to embrace TPB’s decision not to comply with copyright holder’s takedown requests. However, they do respect sites that do. Running a torrent site can be quite tricky, and if they feel it’s safer to adhere to the DMCA then that’s their choice.

However, the removal policies at some other sites also means that The Pirate Bay remains relevant today, as the true haven for ‘uncensored’ sharing.

“It is the only site I’m aware of which doesn’t delete content following DMCA requests,” Xe says.

“It is THE place to upload to avoid the disappointment of having your torrents deleted and THE place to download from when what you want has been deleted from elsewhere. It is the standard by which all other sites are judged.”

As the media industry keeps throwing up artificial barriers to prevent people from enjoying their content, people will keep flocking to The Pirate Bay.

“The Pirate Bay will always be relevant as long as money and location are barriers to accessing culture and educational media,” Spud17 says.

All in all, The Pirate Bay Crew take a lot of pride in what they do. The moderation team is not involved in keeping the site up and running technically, but they are vital to its survival.

Like last year’s temporary rift has shown, without moderators to remove the thousands of fake files TPB would soon turn into a spammer heaven. So, in a way, removing torrents is central to the site’s survival. As long as the pirated stuff stays up…