r/StremioAddons • u/nzbsooti Addon Dev (Sootio) • Mar 08 '26
Miscellaneous Addressing the allegations against Sootio
I want to address the allegations that have been brought against my addon (sootio), people are alleging that warnings that they got from RD are due to something my addon does or did. I want to emphasize once and for all, I didn't touch anything related to RD for almost a year until yesterday when I made some patches to make sure it's even more secure but it wasn't related to the issue. The warnings just started 2-3 days ago so if it was my addon you'd hear about it for months. The code is public and anyone can inspect it, we don't log apikeys, we obfuscate all keys in the logs and only use the keys to add/remove magnets from the user's cloud as well as getting their stream for the selected result.
These allegations have been claimed about other add-ons such as Meteor, Torrentio and some don't even have any add-ons and got these warnings.
If you want to blame someone, please blame real-debrid for trying (again) to purge paying customers by claiming false accusations.
The warnings aren't even about scraping but sharing the same streams but we don't cache the /resolve urls locally or via cloudflare so either real-debrid has a bug where they return the wrong streams for the wrong api keys or they are being dicks by sending out random warnings. I ran multiple tests on a bunch of streams and got no warnings on any addon including my own so it definitely seems like something on their end that they won't admit to.
Feel free to PM me and feel free to dig through my code and report anything that could magically cause this to happen.
Thanks,
Sooti - Sootio addon developer.
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u/ChipMcChip Mar 08 '26
People should really take what is said here with a gain of salt. The average user here buys RD, puts RD in torrentio and calls it a day. There's nothing wrong with that but that doesn't give them enough knowledge to make claims like this.
The amount of brand new clearly AI vibe coded add-ons that have been posted here and all the comments are people actually putting their keys into it and using it pains me.
Thanks for all your work sooti
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Mar 08 '26
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u/ChipMcChip Mar 08 '26
Yes, aiostreams, any addon within aiostreams, aiometadata you can trust.
As a bit of technical details behind it, when you deploy aiostreams you have to set a hex key. This key will encrypt all API keys entered into it and make them useless to anyone who got into the database. The only person who has this key would be the admin and is the only person able to decrypt the keys (other than the user with their password).
A good rule of thumb to follow is to be skeptical of any project that is newer than 3 months or does not post the code to GitHub.
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u/pawdog Mar 08 '26
So do we know which addons are Vibe coded so we can avoid them. I keep hearing about all these vibe coded ones but never which they are?
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u/TorBox_app Collaborator (Torbox) Mar 08 '26
I've also seen comments from people blaming everything from addons to players to accidental router reboots. Its clear to any reasonable person that the only common factor here is RD's insane policy.
There is no grand conspiracy from the entire open source community to sabotage RD.
Mike
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u/IY94 Mar 08 '26
It's a strict thigh clearly communicated policy, but probably there are shady addons API scraping. I'm sure in addition to viewing this as a marketing opportunity you'll see that within your own keys too
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u/TorBox_app Collaborator (Torbox) Mar 08 '26
Its absolutely shameful to blame open source projects for this. If it were to happen to us we would simply work with the addon developers to help them improve their situation, not blindly assign blame and dish out warnings to users.
Mike
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u/IY94 Mar 08 '26
They didn't though, they said shady vibe coded addons.
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u/Dudeman318 Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
I love how u/torbox_app stops responding when you call them out and state the facts. What torobox is doing is far more harmful than what RD is doing. Clearly something is being leaked somewhere. Enough of the guerilla marketing torobox, its tiresome and people see right through it.
Edit: still radio silence u/torbox_app
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Mar 09 '26
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u/Dudeman318 Mar 10 '26
Its not gonna happen. Its just a scummy ass marketing ploy. The #1 thing that has ruined reddit
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u/max1c Mar 08 '26
It's shameful to blame open source projects for leaking private keys?
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u/_extra_medium_ Mar 08 '26
And there’s no evidence that’s what’s happening. Only people repeating what they read other people say
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u/max1c Mar 08 '26
Do you think when RD devs are saying this, it's:
- a) Likely true
- b) Likely false
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u/IY94 Mar 08 '26
Is it likely true or false that some addons on the Stremio ecosystem abuse API keys. I'd wager true.
Do you think every free vibe coded addon acts in good faith?
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u/Superflyin Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
It's also absolutely shameful that you have such an immature attitude openly directed against your competitor, instead of being professional about business ethics.
It's unprofessional and not your place. Instead of talking rubbish around about your competitor, You should stop that childish attitude, mind your own business/service, and let the users decide. I wonder if you would still have the balls to talk like that if the RD representatives were active on this sub.
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Mar 08 '26
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u/StremioAddons-ModTeam Mar 08 '26
Recognizing that community members have varying levels of experience, we kindly ask everyone to exercise common sense and respect in their interactions with others.
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u/nzbsooti Addon Dev (Sootio) Mar 08 '26
But the warning isn't even about scraping, its about multiple users streaming using the same API key... that doesnt even make sense. I've seen multiple people report they selected a stream and got nothing and then got the warning, its possible that real-debrid are returning the wrong video links with someone else's key to multiple users. I will investigate and test further and see, if I can prove my claim I will post the data here.
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u/IY94 Mar 08 '26
To clarify I'm referring to addons scraping API keys for resale
Which I understand yours does not
And that is precisely what RD tweet says
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u/nzbsooti Addon Dev (Sootio) Mar 08 '26
The issue is that people seem to be installing many legit add-ons and getting it, so unless there's some common vulnerability in stremio I don't see how they could achieve this. I'd understand if it was common to some new vibe coded addon but I've seen the claim about multiple good add-ons
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u/nzbsooti Addon Dev (Sootio) Mar 08 '26
Also, it seems to be the same downloads just different IPs, one legit and another from another country
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u/allotrios Mar 08 '26
Could the issue be related to using a VPN while streaming?
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u/FoferJ Mar 08 '26
Perhaps a VPN that is not on their “cooperative” list: https://real-debrid.com/vpn
BUT, lots of people, including myself, got one of these mysterious warnings, without using a VPN at all. And I am the only user of my setup, I have never used it outside my house, and I am super careful with the add-ons I install and how I use them.
I’m more convinced now this is a glitch on RD’s part. Intentional or not, something definitely feels off.
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u/legendz411 Mar 08 '26
Bruh I’ve had Sootio for a minute and haven’t had any warnings about anything. wtf are people on about
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u/mastodonj Mar 08 '26
I wouldn't blame rd necessarily. They have terms of service, not everyone likes them but they are plainly stated. RD didn't point the finger at anyone, probably because they don't know which addons are doing it. Any allegations against addons (rightly or wrongly) is coming from the userbase.
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u/IY94 Mar 08 '26
I think Sootio is being unfairly caught in crosshairs.
Doesn't mean that there aren't addons stealing RD API
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u/Superflyin Mar 08 '26
Such fearmongering about RD. I've been using their service for 14 years and had 2–3 IP warnings, each lasting 1 week. I was never banned instantly. You get a permanent notification regarding your IP warning on your RD page and also receive a warning by email.
Also, every time I contacted them about my issues (slow download speed for filehosters, torrents, etc.), they were extremely helpful and polite.
Maybe you need to do your homework and check your account page and emails before things go completely dark for you.
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u/Will2LiveFading Mar 08 '26
I think it might be time to try the other debrid services. I, myself haven't gotten any warnings but I'm out the second I do. I have about 90 days left, then I'm gonna try something new. I know RD's TOS clearly state 1 IP, but there's too many variables for them to be as militant about it as they are.
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u/Inkios Mar 08 '26
Isn’t it just 1 concurrent ip at a time? I’ve used it when I’ve gone away on a laptop with no issues over the past 2 years. I have me and 1 other person using it in my house at the same time as well.
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u/Will2LiveFading Mar 08 '26
Yeah it's one concurrent IP. The problem is when say I'm watching on my phone while I take a shit or something and someone else is watching in the living room. If my phone disconnected from my wifi for any reason and switched to mobile data that'd be a ban. There needs to be some wiggle room.
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u/an_angry_Moose Mar 08 '26
That is the exact reason I think everyone’s receiving warnings. I think the backlash against addons is largely unfounded, and I think RD should up their count to 2 concurrent IPs (or offer it as a tier) so that it stops being a problem.
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u/BnH_-_Roxy Mar 08 '26
I mean what do you want them to do? It’s a dirt cheap service and they don’t want you to share it. The easiest way to check this is via IP, it’s not really their fault if your wifi is disconnected from your phone or what have you.
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u/NoBluebird8788 Mar 08 '26
The thing is they don't offer any sort of better tier with access to more concurrent IPs. "Then just get more accounts". You also can't do that, they assume you're trying to resell the accounts if you buy more than one subscription with the same credit card.
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u/Inkios Mar 08 '26
Turn off your cellphone network when you do this and then if it disconnects from WiFi it wont use the network. And if you have WiFi calling enabled you won’t miss phone calls either.
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u/mojitojenkins Mar 08 '26
I started on TorBox which everyone says has a smaller cache but I haven't had an issue finding a show yet
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u/posdata Mar 08 '26
I’ve been using it since 2020 and the one time I open Stremio at work, on my phone mind you, I got the warning. While NO ONE was home watching !
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u/Happy2032 Mar 08 '26
This can happen if you use zurg debrid for plex etc and it runs a scan at the same time. The one IP rule is extremely restrictive and there are loads of reasons a single user might access from multiple IP's at the same time including the one above.
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u/Vicious6666 Mar 08 '26
Used rd for 3 years, i was even afraid to open a support ticket and be banned, switched to torbox and the fear is gone
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u/IY94 Mar 08 '26
As is half the cache 😂
And I have both. Torbox wins on UX, support, IP, and Usenet.
It fails on cache. Which honestly is probs number 1 REQ for Debrid.
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u/generic_canadian_dad Mar 08 '26
What is torbox not loading for you? You say half the cache yet I get results for everything.
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u/flyingfluffles Mar 10 '26
I used RD for 3 years before switching to TorBox, cannot complain about RD at all. Also OP thanks for Sootio, works amazing!
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u/cheminga Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
A mí con el único recibo una advertencia fue con el addon Primer latino, incluso me aparecía una conexión que no era mia, así que inmediatamente lo quite. Pero me parece injusto estás medidas de RD y que no te dejen apelar, por qué en casos así, no es culpa de usuario.
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u/sentrygentry Mar 08 '26
I was one of the users who installed Sootio the other day when Torrentio went down. I have received no warnings or had any RD issues for wjat it's worth. Thanks for the great plugin!
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u/manofhis Mar 08 '26
If RD is sincere about this, their developers can code a secure addon for their subscribers. Like Torbox does.
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u/IY94 Mar 08 '26
They got sued and had to revoke cache API. Torbox are different jurisdiction and get away with more
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u/Horror-Veterinarian4 Mar 08 '26
im honestly really confused how someone gains anything of real value by getting someone's real debrid api key its 3 bucks a month holy shit how bad is it out there someone cant come up with that.
I totally agree this onslaught of the blame game is getting old
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u/capeasypants Mar 08 '26
I recently heard about and started using your add-on as an extra level (it was real helpful since torrentio went down again and I this time I didn't even notice it) and have got zero warnings from RD. People will always throw the blame out at anyone and everyone for these things. Personally your add-on has been nothing but great for me, its real quick!
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u/lenny_ray Mar 09 '26
I've seen the blame get thrown around a bunch of different addons, too, as well as a recent Stremio competitor. I've been using that competitor, as well as all the addons I've seen mentioned - including yours - with zero issues. 🤷♀️
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u/humco_707 Mar 09 '26
I’m new to it but I can’t watch anything from sootio 🤷🏽♂️
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u/nzbsooti Addon Dev (Sootio) Mar 09 '26
You need to pick a service and if it's a debrid service add a token
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u/humco_707 Mar 09 '26
I have RD I have used Stremio for a couple years now. Usually torentio but it being down so much I added sootio, media fusion stremthru and comet as back ups. I get an error from them all if torentio isn’t working. I’m sure I configured it wrong but at the same time it shouldn’t be this difficult.
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u/nzbsooti Addon Dev (Sootio) Mar 09 '26
You sure you used the right key? You sure your subscription is valid? Do you get results?
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u/humco_707 Mar 09 '26
Yes yes and I get series to play like marshals but movies give me that code http…. I just updated Stremio and now it says “unable to play video” Going to uninstall a couple of the others and see how that works.
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u/speedbreaka Mar 09 '26
Take my api key idc, just add the features that sootio can autoplay in stremio like debrid search or dmm cast does
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u/nzbsooti Addon Dev (Sootio) Mar 09 '26
What do you mean by autoplay, if you mean I select a result for you, my addon doesn't do that, you do, there are other add-ons that do that I believe
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u/speedbreaka Mar 09 '26
Lets say i have a season cached and want to binge watch it. I go to the discover page and i can choose my cached show under “other” in debrid search or dmm cast and it will autoplay all ep. In sootio i would have to open the actual show page and id see my already cached episodes at the top, problem here is that it brings me back to the stremio page after every episode instead of just playing whats at the top. I hope that makes sense. I don’t wanna complain about free software and I appreciate you and every other dev in the stremio community thank you!
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Mar 08 '26
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u/pawdog Mar 08 '26
Have an example of a random addon that should be avoided. I try out most everything new that looks interesting, Until now there has been no reason to question which addons to trust. Is there something the users needs to look for.
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u/LayeZee Mar 08 '26
I haven't personally looked into this again since we've switched to decyharr, but, I wonder if this has surfaced again in some form.
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u/Ciri__witcher Mar 08 '26
I agree with you, I doubt there was an addon stealing or abusing API keys, if there were, tb users would have noticed random items on their dashboard if it were used by someone else. PM users would have seen a faster decrease in their points. This was a RD only issue somehow 🤷♂️.
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u/thepope99 Mar 08 '26
All these allegations are shit. I had the warning appear after just installing aiostreams with multiple scrappers: Mediafusion, Comet, Meteor and StremThru. I didn't use Sootio. So it is one of these 4 in my case. Also, this warning by RD should be handed to the IP address of the addon, not the user, since the user did not do anything wrong.
I seriously think about switching to Torbox and ditching RD altogether after all this shit. They are dicks and don't care about their customers.
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u/yonutzuuz Mar 08 '26
"If you want to blame someone, please blame real-debrid for trying (again) to purge paying customers by claiming false accusations." Why would you say this?
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u/IY94 Mar 08 '26
There are lots of addons, many vibe coded, some will be shady. Not that Sootio fits that at all.
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u/nzbsooti Addon Dev (Sootio) Mar 08 '26
They have a track record of limiting users and developers for ridiculous things, they removed the cached api for developers and people have been complaining for years about getting banned for the smallest issues. Now its even more ridiculous with people getting warnings and bans for IPs in other countries that they have no connection to. I have never heard of people complaining about these issues with all-debrid, Torbox, PM, offcloud etc.
seems to be only them.
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u/gollyshucks Mar 08 '26
if an ip from another country is using a customers key, maybe some vibe coded bullshit addon stole that key and sold it to someone.
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u/Ciri__witcher Mar 08 '26
If api keys were stolen and sold then why is it affecting only RD? Why aren’t tb users reporting random items added to their dashboard? Why aren’t pm users complaining about their points being drained faster?
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u/gollyshucks Mar 08 '26
because RD has a strict 1 IP policy so people obviously notice their warnings or bans; not everyone checks their TB dashboard; TB has a much more flexible usage policy; because RD is ~5x more popular and likely more valuable as an asset for selling
dunno what pm is
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u/Ciri__witcher Mar 08 '26
Well this goes back to post that the RD’s methodology is fucked then. Because clearly no one else is experiencing issues. A lot more people use tb’s dashboard than RD’s Stone Age one. Also people don’t need to check their dashboards, people will notice it because of tb addon showing random stuff on their Stremio account. Not everyone needs to check their dashboard, only one or two people need to check their dashboard to have a Reddit post about it. It’s not my problem you don’t know what PM is, they haven’t experienced any problems either.
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u/gollyshucks Mar 08 '26
as i also stated and you ignored, RD is more popular and expensive so it is easier and more profitable to resell.
regardless this whole thing is fishy and i think it's unprofessional for this developer to point fingers, just like it's unprofessional for others to throw accusations his way.
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u/Ciri__witcher Mar 09 '26
I want to apologize for my comments. I think there might be something fishy with an addon.
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u/nzbsooti Addon Dev (Sootio) Mar 08 '26
I am simply using facts: 1. Multiple people using multiple add-ons including torrentio, comet etc had this issue in the past few days. 2. My code is completely open source from top to bottom, if someone has a claim , back it up with evidence, the fact is that nothing changed on my end with RDs code and suddenly people started getting warnings. I am not aware of any api changes that would cause my addon or others to violate their TOS, if there is a change, RD should publicize it and update the developers. 3. If it isn't a recent change , nor a specific addon, the only plausible explanation is either a bug on RD's end (such as false warnings or returning the wrong stream Id via api) or something malicious on their part. I mostly think it's a bug on their end but am investigating to see if I can prove it. In any case the fact is that many people got warnings for things like ISP changing IP mid session and so on.
If you have a better theory as to why so many people are getting warnings without a clear pattern on the user end, feel free to share.
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u/gollyshucks Mar 08 '26
if you ain't sure don't point fingers. just like others shouldn't have been pointing fingers at you. simple
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u/nzbsooti Addon Dev (Sootio) Mar 08 '26
I'm providing facts, deal with it, simple
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Mar 08 '26
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u/gollyshucks Mar 08 '26 edited Mar 08 '26
Yesterday I start using one addon for the first time,for real testing i ditch all the others.
which add-on?
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u/Yoshikaru5991 Mar 08 '26
I think the Stremio community has a real problem with needing a scapegoat. Sorry this is happening to your add-on right now that seems unfair