Thanks for the interview Siddiq. Answers inline.

> 1) My first question is the one I think most people have when they
> look at BitTorrent sites and see all the files that are one them; What
> do you get out of running the site? Money, fame, girls...?

Money, sure. Fame, not really. Not when it clashes with the likes of Hollywood. Girls, I wish. But most importantly, P2P and the internet enables a new freedom in grassroot media distribution, be it Open Source software or various forms of entertainment. I wanted to create technology that accelerate the development and use of it.

> 2) When I look at the forums on most BitTorrent sites they are full of
> errors to be fixed, files to be recovered, request and complaints. In
> a normal week, how much time would you say you put into keeping the
> site running?

Depends on servers behave or not and what mood copyright owners are in (or their agents rather). But it's a fulltime job.

> 3) Most people think of file servers and the like as a fairly complex
> technology to understand and operate. What kinds of experience did you
> have with running software or servers before this?
> 3a) Are you a technical guru, hacker extraordinaire, script kiddie or
> newbie? 3b) Do you know how to program software?

Started a newbie, not as much now. I wrote isoHunt.com. I started it as a learning exercise - I find developing internet technologies fascinating.

> 4) With all thats going on in the world of media, what are the things
> that keep you awake at night? What are the biggest issues facing
> BitTorrent operators today?

Copyright issues. As you might be aware, the MPAA is suing me: http://isohunt.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=38933

> 5) As an operator of the site you have a unique perspective on what
> has made Torrent sites so successful with consumers. What are some of
> the things that have shocked, surprised or amazed you about the people
> that use your site?

The sheer size and growth of the P2P and file distribution market. The largest BitTorrent websites, isoHunt.com included, are among the 500 largest websites in the world with millions of visitors per month. This is beyond what I expected when I started isoHunt, and there are studies that shows BitTorrent accounting for over half of all bandwidth use on the entire internet. This is an emerging market as all media distribution transition from their more traditional form, via CD/DVD/radio/TV, and converge on the internet. This is an exciting time, and I want to help shape this new market such that consumers will get more freedom and convenience in their creative use than before, rather than the contrary.

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Cheers,
Gary