When the file sharing system OiNK was shut down last week, we pointed out how silly it was for the recording industry to go after such a site. The RIAA has been shutting down sites like that regularly for years, each time claiming that it was a significant blow against piracy... but then many more new services would pop up, each one more underground than the last, and the amount of file sharing would increase. In other words, this was a strategy that doesn't work at all. Predictably, some folks came by to attack us in the comments, insisting (incorrectly) that having your music on file sharing sites meant you couldn't make money and that the RIAA needed to shut down these sites as a "deterrent." That, of course, is ridiculous. The simple fact that every time these sites get shut down more open up and more people use them shows pretty conclusively that it's never been a deterrent before, so why would it start this time? In fact, as TorrentFreak is monitoring, a bunch of new sites have quickly sprung up, attempting to replace OiNK. In other words, by taking down this one site, the recording industry has just helped create a bunch more, many of which will build up pretty strong followings. The end result doesn't make things better for the recording industry -- it makes things worse. So why do they keep doing it?