Digitaltopia

For a long time ShareTV reigned as undisputed king of the TV scene on the ED2K network. Then they gave into mounting legal pressures, and stopped listing ed2k:// links on their mainpage or forums. They still survive as #motv, releasing shows in their IRC channel and updating the ShareTV data base on a regular basis. However for most The-RealWorld has become the place to be for hash links to episodes.

All has been well for quite some time and The-Realworld has enjoyed good traffic, and an active community. I went to the site as I've done countless times, planning to feed the next episode of Gilmore Girls to my mule. To my surprise, Gilmore Girls were no longer to be found. A little bit of digging revealed that it was not the only show that had suddenly been removed from the website’s listing. ER, Third Watch, Friends, Gilmore Girls, and The OC are all among the shows removed from the mainpage.

While the staff has been much shut lip about the reasons behind the shows being removed, there is really only one likely reason. Legal pressures must finally be being brought to bare against the site’s owner 'Wuff'. It's believed he is located in Germany, a country where the Industry should be able to bring a fair amount of legal pressure to against him. If sites like ShareReactor and ShareConnector can be forced offline, both being in more file sharing friendly places, The-RealWorld may be in serious trouble.

The-RealWorld community has been asked not to speculate and told that they will be informed as to what’s going on 'eventually'. There is one pretty active thread on their forums where they are allowing their users to talk about the situation. Filtering of search results and removal of requested material has often been the first sign of the end for sites of this nature, only time will tell if that is the case for The-RealWorld. I honestly wish The-RealWorld the best of luck with whatever they are dealing with. They have been a great resource for the community, even if they insist on renaming files in an asinine way.

*update*

Digitaltopia has now confirmed from sources inside TRW that it is indeed legal issues that have lead to the removal of some shows. Warner Brothers have been in contact with Wuff, and its possible he will be forced into a settlement or face a lawsuit. :(