I'm just gonna apologize already for some long run-on sentences and stuff, the text below the questions are more just unorganized thought piles then actual organized specific confusions.
Q1: Are private trackers worth it?
I've been seeing a lot recently about how private trackers are like the holy grail for piracy, better rips, faster releases, no ISP notices (I use a vpn so this doesn't matter), etc, but I have never had issues like that. Every time I want to torrent a movie (including new ones) I can get them from places like 1337x, (rip) RARGB, or even tpb with good enough quality for what I need (3-7gb usually). I don't have issues with finding new releases or higher quality ones and all the torrents I need I can find on public places. So what actually would be the appeal of private trackers for someone like me, like what do private trackers actually have that public ones don't? Also, it wouldn't help that my internet connect is absolutely horrible for torrenting, 500-600+ down and like 15 up with a vpn on and it isn't better without one on much, just faster downloads. And so this would just make meeting the "share ratios" or whatever the trackers call it really hard to achieve because for me it can take days or longer to sometimes reach a 1.0 share ratio outside of some specific cases. It doesn't help either that people seem to often be purged or kicked from private trackers if they don't meet certain standards or aren't active enough and then they'll have to go through the whole rigorous interview process again or have to start from scratch with working their way up from trackers like RED.
Q2: What makes a torrenting site safe / unsafe?
I saw some stuff recently about how 1337x isn't safe anymore because of some malicious game torrent being posted from some person connected to the owner of the site. I personally do not pirate games often (I've only done it once and I mainly just pirate movies and shows) and so I do not really know what makes a torrent site safe/unsafe for people to torrent from as I thought regardless of site, unless its from one specific trusted group like fitgirl, that there was always a risk of downloading malware and so you had to be really careful of what torrents they download and make sure that what they downloaded wasn't malware either by checking things like seed counts or reviews or whatever (never had to do this so idk what the signs are). Do some sites just not have malware on them or what does it mean for a torrent site to be safe / unsafe.
I'll edit this post or comment if I have anymore questions but thank you for taking the time to actually read this.
Great questions!
A1: Yes and no. They are worth it if you want to download and seed more obscure content that would not be found on public trackers. Private trackers often keep very old and niche torrents alive because of their rules designed to promote healthy seeding. Some private trackers specialize in certain types of content too. They will sometimes also get new release torrents slightly earlier than public trackers but nowadays there's not that much difference in that respect. If you are already satisfied with the content you find on public trackers then I'd say the benefits of joining a private tracker are somewhat diminished. Having said that there are other possible benefits - e.g., some private sites tend to have more trustworthy content and comments because virus infected content is usually more quickly identified and removed, and some have a friendly community. But if you are mainly seeking popular and newer content then public torrents are perfectly serviceable. The VPN question is a thorny one for me. I'm naturally reluctant to trust my real IP address to any website, but many private trackers require that you don't use one. Yes, you are less likely to be 'caught' downloading a torrent from a private tracker, but it's still a possibility if a site is compromised. I'm not sure how often that happens in real life though, maybe some other members can provide some history of known breaches.
A2. No torrent sites are 100% safe. 1337x took down that problematic torrent within a day (I think), so that shows some goodwill. But there are always some suspicious torrents on public trackers, because no site mod or admin has the time to forensically check every upload - it relies on a certain amount of trust with regard to uploaders that they won't suddenly start uploading virus infected content. But you get a ton of false virus reports on public trackers too, either because copyright holders may want to put people off from downloading the content, or because noobs often misinterpret virus scanner warnings which often highlight a cracked file as a keygen/PUP/trojan even when it's (often) perfectly harmless. So long as 1337x has some moderation in place for uploaders and responds in a timely manner to reports of viruses etc, then I'd say nothing much has changed at 1337x, despite the various unsubstantiated conspiracy theories you may come across. I'll still be using it from time to time. In general torrents will be safer on private trackers because they are more carefully moderated, but there are no guarantees. You should always take precautions.
Hope that helps a little - I'm sure you'll get a lot of differing opinions on these questions.
Do you have any recommendations for private trackers I should keep an eye on for open registrations or how else would you recommend I get into private trackers?