A Nicotine+ plugin that bans and ignores users who think file sharing is optional. Spoiler: it’s not.
This fork adds "ProveIT", which is meant to curb automated downloads from leechers who fake file shares, etc (often times vibe coded streaming clients).
A personal plugin for Nicotine+.
It does exactly what it says:
- Users who don't share enough files and folders? Banned and ignored.
- If the user's IP has resolved, they can be banned. If it's unresolved, they won't be IP banned.
- Optionally, send them a message telling them to stop leeching — or not.
- Block Suspicious Users with certain File Share numbers
- Unban users who are now sharing - In Testing
ProveIt is a lightweight “captcha” layer for uploads. It is aimed at bots and headless / streaming-style clients that queue many files but are not able to interact in chat, while still letting real users through aftee verification.
- Non-buddies who are not on your ProveIt verified whitelist get their queued upload removed when they try to download from you.
- They receive a private message you can edit (eg: ask them to type a word such as
downloadin PM to be whitelisted). - When they send that exact word (case-insensitive), they are added to the whitelist and get a second editable message.
- By default, ProveIt will try to auto-retry previously denied queued uploads right after successful verification.
- If auto-retry does not restart every download (client/network timing can vary), users should still retry manually.
- Buddies are not asked to prove anything.
- A cooldown (default: several minutes) limits how often the “first download” reminder is sent to the same user, so rapid retries do not spam their PM.
- Turn ProveIt on or off.
- Edit the first PM and success PM, the captcha word, cooldown seconds, and view or manage the verified users list.
- Toggle auto-retry uploads after verification (enabled by default).
- Hide messages from plugin (hides PM tabs/messages triggered by the plugin and hides exact captcha replies, while still allowing normal chat messages).
Because this is Soulseek, not Soul-take.
If you're here just to download and not contribute, go use Spotify or rip YouTube.
ProveIt: Soulseekers on r/Soulseek have been looking for ways to curb “leech-slop”, which are low-effort, often automated accounts that leech without behaving like real participants (see vibecoded slop accounts and vibe coded leech slop is rising). This plugin (especially with ProveIt) is made to remedy this, while still allowing real users to use Soulseek.
- Drop the plugin into your Nicotine+
pluginsfolder. - Go to Plugins → Enable it.
- Configure it: set minimum files/folders shared, and the optional warning message.
- Done.
Q: Isn’t this gatekeeping?
A: It’s designed to encourage sharing in the community. Many users do share generously, and this plugin helps prioritize those connections.
Q: But I only share 1 file because I’m shy… or have no bandwidth, storage etc...
A: Understood. But this plugin prioritizes people who share. If not, the people who share get punished.
Q: Do downloaders need to install this plugin?
A: No. It only needs to run on your side (Nicotine) People downloading from you do not need the plugin for it to apply to your shares / for them to respond to the captcha.
ProveIt: Q: What if these tools catch on?
A: If lots of people run the same fixed captcha word, scripted clients could eventually automate answering it. A randomized captcha (different challenge per user or per session) would help. I’m looking into how to do that sensibly in Nicotine+ but don’t really have a solid dapproach yet. Contributions are welcome, if you have a clean way to do this, feel free to add it.
ProveIt: Q: Can I hide or mute messages from this plugin?
A: Yes. Hide messages from plugin is now enabled by default, it hides plugin-triggered messages while keeping normal chat messages visible.
GPLv3. Do whatever you want.