BitTorrent Etiquette when it comes to seeding

[PlayWithFire]

This has been bugging me for a while.

What kind of personal etiquette do you guys stick to when seeding? Do you always seed? Do you let your seed ratio go up to 1.0?

What i've done in the past with azureus is let my seed ratio go up to one, and then stop seeding. I do that for two reason.

One, Azureus would load slower with every torrent added to it.

Second, (more important), i don't like the way the files are named. I'd rather have 5x04 - Episode.avi rather then 05x04.Showname.Episode.Codec.Releasgroup.avi.

I have having that info in my file name. I could make a copy, and seed one and look at the other. But, all i got is a 250GB HD and that fills up pretty fast when you rip your DVD collection to it.

I started letting the ratio go up to 1.5 and then stopping. If i see i am the only seeder (or 1 of 4) i'll stick around for a bit longer, but not forever.

So, what rules do you guys use to keep seeding?

[ScubaSteve]

i will always seed a torrent back to 100% on public trackers. private trackers i will usually seed between 150% - 200% depending on the size. the thing i tend todo most though is if i dont have anything that i want to download. ill open a few torrents up that i got off private trackers and just seed them the entire night.

[Ares]

I seed from 100% to 250% depending on the filesize. In other words, for a 700MB torrent I'd probably seed to 250%. However, a multi-gigabyte torrent, I'd try to seed to 100%. But seeing that I put out about 16-20kb/s, that takes a very very long time.

Also if there are fewer than 10 seeds I stick around until at least all the leechers can become seeds (provided I've seeded at least 100% already). I usually use super-seeding in this case.

-Ares

[HoochieMamma]

I usually seed to a ratio of 2.0 but on things I like/Feel strongly about (like a certian 427MB file) I have gotten it up to a ratio of ~14 and still going.

[Intangir]

I try to stay around 1.0 on private trackers. Seeding more than that can potentially rob someone else of maintaining their ratio. Hell, on some well seeded private trackers I had to download brand-new files that I didn't even want just so I could seed them enough to supplement my ratio because the files that I wanted were already too well seeded by people with already ridiculous ratios. Obviously this doesn't apply to distributors/initial seeders.

Discretion is always required. A rarer torrent with very slow seeders and few peers obviously can use whatever help they can get. And the extra uploading you get from helping those people out you can splurge on a torrent that already has tons of seeders. In the end, you generally break even and, amongst all the private trackers I use, I'm between 1.03 - 1.10 on all of them.

On public torrents, I do pretty much the same thing. On rare torrents where the seeders have long abandoned us and we have to contribute here and there and piece together a full file, I'll stay until most all of them have a copy or at least there's at least 1 or 2 availiable copies.

[stevvi]

I totally agree with Intangir on all points, especially about "over seeding" and screwing up everone else's attempts at getting a 1:1 ratio. Having said that, I also agree with HoochieMamma and will seed for ages on something that I feel needs it and is worthwhile.

[weirdo]

I'm ratio freak - I seed as long as possible. Sometimes my ratio reaches 10, 15, 20 or higher. I love that s**t

[PlayWithFire]

interesting point about private trackers, i never thought about that

i don't really use any, since it's usually a pain to get a membership there

[churchi]

i say just seed as long as you can. like weirdo, i love to keep my ratio up there as high as i can.

when i am seeding back i am helping others to get the files quicker and helping the whole torrent out.

usually seed to well over 18 or 20 sometimes more. just also like to leave the torrent in the list for about 48 hours or so. that usually gets the seesd up on it then u can drop off.

just one thing in mind, just don't HIT n RUN

thats the worst thing u can do on a torrent apart from supplying bad data to the swam

[PlayWithFire]

hmm, after seeing some of these replies, it looks like i may have to start letting my ratio go up to like a 5

Usually, if it's a single movie, i can just rename the file when downloading, and seed it forever. I've had the share ratio go up into the 30s before. But, it can't be done with a folder. And, i retag and rename almost all the MP3s i ever download, so that's no good either.

Thanks for all the replies!

[weirdo]

Yeah churchi my man - Hit n'Run should be a crime. Kill all the chickenheads who like to d/l only!

[splintax]

I try to stay around 1.0 on private trackers. Seeding more than that can potentially rob someone else of maintaining their ratio.

[...]

Discretion is always required. A rarer torrent with very slow seeders and few peers obviously can use whatever help they can get. And the extra uploading you get from helping those people out you can splurge on a torrent that already has tons of seeders. In the end, you generally break even and, amongst all the private trackers I use, I'm between 1.03 - 1.10 on all of them.

I agree completely. I used to be one of the people who would seed everything forever, and had a ratio of around 5.5 on a high-profile private site. But now I realise that there are people with crap upload speeds that have difficultly seeding to maintain a ratio of even 0.5.

So now I try to get everything to 1.0, but I'm not that concerned about falling below on a particular torrent, as long as my overall ratio stays over 1.0. On public sites, I usually go to 1.25 or higher, since those people need all the upload they can get.

[zebulon]

At least 100% on public trackers (but up to 650% in the past), and generally 3-500% on private ones (up to 1300%, so far).

[maestro_black]

Since i tend not to use private trackers (at least i think i don't), thats a moot point with me. But i do cheat sometimes, having access to a 5Mb pipe elsewhere i will take downloads there and seed off that. Usually i try to maintain 3:5 (150% ratio) on my own connection, but with the 5Mb i can hit 1500+ in a short amount of time (Imagine the damage one person could do with that on a bunch of private trackers ).

But at the end of the day i dont get overly into the etiquette of seeding. If i find something i think is worth seeding overly or is well sought after and doesnt really have a high risk tag on it, i'd seed it to stupid amounts. As long as their were people wanting it, i'd provide it.

[SledgeDG]

very simple...no matter if private or public:..a torrent which has 40 or 60 seeders I'll stop at 100%

all others, depending on requests (i. e. actual seeders to peer ratio)etc. between 150% und 500%

It's not so hard to understand that you would never finish a torrent if nobody seeds

-DG

[weirdo]

with the 5Mb i can hit 1500+ in a short amount of time (Imagine the damage one person could do with that on a bunch of private trackers )

OMG I dream of these speeds. I only have 512/256 but I seed as long as I can.

--

sorry for my english

[Alistair]

Heya,

Yeah, I'm not a leecher for the most part, unless there is a lot of seeders. Today, tho. I just got jacked big time, and it's kinda annoying so I'm in full agreement with Intangir upon this affair. I mean, I was downloadin' a album that normal people wouldn't get, and I had a power outtage. =/ Guess what happended, I got booted, and now I have Ratio enforcment on me. *SNiff* Since there is tons of seekers, and no real peers. Guess what, slow as heck now..cause I wasn't able to finish. Despite that I am a good seeder. =/

That many seeders, I could upload a bit as well bring up my share ration again...

My thoughts,

Ali

[frost]

I love to seed. My system sits idle most of the time unless I am downloading something. When my system is Idle I tend to let at least 3 torrents I recently downloaded seed for 20+hours. Which usually gives me a 5-10 ratio depending on the size. If it is a big file like 4 gigs + I will seed for 48 hours (2 gigs = 1 day 4 gigs = 2 days) Or until I reach a good ratio.

The reason I like to seed so much was back in my 56k Days I never seeded because of the slow speeds. Now that I have the bandwidth, here I come to make up for all that leeching.

[PlayWithFire]

i remember back in the days of Kazaa, they had something similar to the share ratio. It was great, cause the more you uploaded, the less time you had to wait in line to download a file from someone. I remember just leavin my PC overnight and quickly reaching 1000 (i don't remember what that meant).

I almost never had to wait. But then a hack came out, and the was completly irrelevant. And then Kazaa light just build that in, so it became completly useless

[dAbReAkA]

i seed a file till it become an old and not needed... if can seed only 1 thing for a long period of time i would seed only that thing.. for example i seed a certain game i've be seeding it for maybe a year (from the time it's been released) at full speed and everytime(almost) when i start utorrent they leech... why do i need another torrents to keep my ratio up? ofc i seed another things too but they are not so desired by others

Be careful with what you say. ~ Sanchez

[splintax]

The reason I like to seed so much was back in my 56k Days I never seeded because of the slow speeds. Now that I have the bandwidth, here I come to make up for all that leeching.

Heh, if you keep ratios like that, I'm sure you've more than made up for it..

[r00ted]

I just seed until Im pleased with the outcome, that's about it.

When I release stuff myself, What I like doing (hey, dont bash me now ) is I seed it until a few people have it at 50%, leave the swarm for a day or so (24-30 hrs ), come back, and have like 80 seeders waiting for me.

I've found greater success in my torrents using this method (*cough*btwarehouse*cough*)

[BloodStaindHurricane]

i will always seed a torrent back to 100% on public trackers. private trackers i will usually seed between 150% - 200% depending on the size. the thing i tend todo most though is if i dont have anything that i want to download. ill open a few torrents up that i got off private trackers and just seed them the entire night.

I do exactly this.

[PlayWithFire]

i am very curious to see what all these private trackers are, but i went and checked the rules, and that's not allowed. I'll look for those myself

So, then here's my question: do you actually download and organize your .torrent files? If so, what methods do you use? I get most of my stuff not directly of the trackers site, but of the indexing ones.

[dAbReAkA]

do you actually download and organize your .torrent files? If so, what methods do you use? I get most of my stuff not directly of the trackers site, but of the indexing ones.

no i just click on the torrent link and use the open with function of my browser (Sanchez, am i able to tell the name ?) some people even share torrent files.. what a great mistake.. never give another person your torrent file. he can see ur passkey (if there is passkey announcing)