Over the years I've used Usenet, public trackers, and private trackers. I always come back to the private trackers.

If your public trackers have what you want at speeds you want, and you're happy using a VPN for all downloads, then by all means.

But I like private trackers because I get my hands on the content ASAP (both because they get posted quickly but also because of high seeder ratios). The quality of the encodes on the good trackers is maintained by moderation teams. And often times I'm looking for rare content that can only be found on private trackers. Most have a request system that allows you to even get stuff not immediately available.

Yes you have to seed, but usually it's doable to maintain a good ratio even with slow upload speeds (freeleech or bonus systems help here).

A1: Yes, but it depends

I used to be someone who used to watch movies and tv shows on soap2day/fmovies/etc but once I tried watching a proper full release (Bluray encode, or even just a WEB release) I could never go back. If you have a good TV, and you want to maximise your watching experience, private trackers are easily the way to go. But it entirely depends on your needs.

Even with a slower upload speed, it's not impossible to keep a good ratio. As long as you have drive space to seed, you will get bonus points that you can use to keep your ratio positive. About being kicked, most sites are "one lifetime, one account" so you can't just restart from RED if you get in trouble. Ideally, don't get in trouble, stay off the forums except for recruitments, just keep a good ratio and don't fuck up.

A2: Depends on the content

For Movies and TV you generally don't need to care where you get it from. Even if the file is infected somehow, a competent video player will not allow whatever malicious code to be executed so you're good there

What you do need to worry about is for Games and Software. You are essentially running random .exe files that would even show up as a malicious file on VirusTotal if it's a cracked program that bypasses some subscription or premium purchase.

You said you don't download much games and when you do it's Fitgirl so you're good there. Fitgirl is a trusted releaser and as long as you use fitgirl-repacks.site you won't have an issue (double check the hashes anyway, fitgirl releases include a program that does it for you). It is true 1337x had that problem recently with the EMPRESS release for Baldur's Gate 3 that included a Bitcoin miner (apparently EMPRESS was not responsible for it, and someone else had reposted it including the malware).

If you do download games, the best tracker is GazelleGamesNetwork (GGn) and you should consider finding a way in if you want to play more games at some point. Releases there are thoroughly checked and the staff are very careful. People find out very quickly if something is questionable and will not hesitate to call it out so it can be considered safe.

As for software, it's tough because there is no big trusted private tracker for cracked programs for Windows. Rutracker is what I usually recommend, it's semi-private and is atleast better than 1337x or TPB (try not to use those anymore). RuTracker also has m0nkrus releases, just translate the comments and see if anything seems off about it.

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.

1. Yes, I'd say they're absolutely worth it. The main draw is you can get pretty much anything (unless you have very strange tastes) quickly, and be sure of the quality. Maintaining a ratio isn't hard on most trackers with a credits/bonus system, so it's usually not a worry if your upload is kinda slow. And you don't really need to interview for movie/tv trackers. Probably joining a couple entry-level ones would be fit your needs.
2. Most private trackers are very safe when it comes to malware, publics can be hit or miss. There is always a risk with binary content, which is why some people only grab scene releases for games and check the hashes. In either case, if you're just grabbing videos you should be fine.

Q1: close knit, and private anything when it comes to wanting quality out of what you’re looking for is always going to be better. There’s rules in place and checks done. People are held accountable.

Q2: safe/unsafe in my opinion will just have to do with the amount of virus infected crap. You should be doing the hiding your address aspect of it all.

I'm pretty much in the same boat. Currently have a Plex setup with -arr taking care of most of the torrent handling, but keep seeing Usenet touted as a better option.