Dirty "tactics"?..

[scorch]

Ok.. I'm 51 years old and have been on the net awhile. Have used Usenet for years and recently decided to try P2P.

I read up for two days on all of this. Got a port forwarded.. installed µtorrent and everything is running peachy keen (Except for putting my dl speed for awhile into the speed guide interface instead of ul; thanks to the FAQ.. I figured that one out.).

Anyways.. I see no mention of this anywhere and maybe it's semi-unethical to even speak of it.. but how do you ban a peer from being able to download from you?

Here's an example..

I'm trying to download a file that's only got ONE seeder (and I'm assuming he's the op because it's a 2 year old torrent). He goes on & offline periodically.. to be expected I guess.. so I just wait. Of course.. the file is going to take some days at this rate and i have a minute throughput from him as well.

Next.. at any given time because the torrent is so unpopular, there MAY be only one or two peers active (I'm one of them.. of course.. because I leave the torrent active 24/7 anyway.). I wake up this morning and see that the seed is gone.. but another peer has about 85% of the total and we're "exchanging both ways" (I'm only at about 30% and my dl rate strangely.. is nowhere near my ul rate to him). Everything goes good for awhile anyway.. and even I am making headway.. but when I saw the peer at about 95% I started thinking: "This guy is going to finish "off" of me.. and will probably just leave immediately. I forgot to monitor the situation and came back an hour or two later, and that's EXACTLY what he did! Now here I am with an inactive torrent again which I may never finish and that bastoid just snuck in and leeched in the most literal sense and then split. Needless to say.. I'm a little miffed.

I know the whole "sharing" concept and stuff.. I'm fine with that.. but is there any way I could have snubbed him toward the end? in other words.. just block him from downloading from me.. out of "spite"? I probably wouldn't have done it permanently.. after all.. if none of us (especially the peers when there ARE no seeds) ever finishes.. no one will anyway; but it would have been nice just to send a message/hint before he did leave so ungraciously.

Thanks to all for your time & attention.

[torrero]

Sooner or later, this happens to everybody. I believe, most of these guys arent really axxholes, they simply dont have a clue what p2p is all about. I mean, if you browse these forums there are enough people who dont know anything about ratio, availability, seed numbers in brackets and omg im uploading- what is being uploaded - virus!!!! etc....

If this happens to me, i put the IP into my ipfilter.dat. But that doesnt really solve this "issue".

On the other hand, you will love p2p if you have those friendly people (like you) that keep uploading til everyone has finished the torrent.

Maybe you can request a reseed to the original poster? Many torrent trackers are able to do this.

[scorch]

Thanks for the quick respone. Yup.. I read about the IP filters shortly after I posted this.

Some questions though..

Where is ipfilter.dat located? Is it a file? And do I have to manually open and insert an IP? I see no "quick" way to add an IP from within the client.

Also.. when I see more than just the ###.###.###.### designation under the peers tab (as in when it includes a location,service/provider.. or country designation.. should i insert the entire thing? or just the domain #s?

Thanks again.

[jewelisheaven]

The IP address is all that goes in ipfilter.dat http://utorrent.com/faq.php#What_is_ipfilter.dat.3F

You can use the format AB.CD.EF.GH #COMMENT FOR EXPLANATION but make sure there are no blank lines.

Indeed there's no fast way to add peers from the client for a very specific reason... people would FIND it and use it unnecessarily. What I'd like to see eventually is a way to have the client's auto-ban function be permanent, whether by a ato-append-to-ipfilter option or something to "dump" after each session to be reread.

When you utilize ipfilter, you can make changes and have them be ALMOST automatic by toggling "reload ipfilter.dat" in the context menu. IPFILTER.DAT belongs in the same location as your DAT files.

[torrero]

Also.. when I see more than just the ###.###.###.### designation under the peers tab (as in when it includes a location,service/provider.. or country designation.. should i insert the entire thing? or just the domain #s?

right-click the IP and disable "Resolve IPs". Only the figures.

[scorch]

It's a done deal and all set up. Thanks for all your help gentlemen. One last question.. will I see the banned IP when/if he makes a request to me.. in my peers list?

OK.. two.. is that what "snubbed" means if I see it in my peer's headers and it's been done to me?

[Firon]

If you ban an IP, you'll see the connection attempts in the Logger.

Snubbed means you're ignoring a peer because you requested data, they said they'd send it, but never did (or did far too slowly).

[Switeck]

I'm seeding right now and banning other seeds and anyone not using encryption.

I'm hoping this improves my stability slightly, as I'm on ComCast.

I'll drop the ips I've added in a couple days.

[Rycon]

Well you may be looking at the situation wrong, and your counting on the fact that he knew what he was doing and left you to dry on purpose..

Imagine if you were him and you had no idea what was going on. Perhaps he had waited a very long time too. But in any case he definitely should have started seeding.. but mabye something happened and he will return later

Also your thinking that if hes 'out there' you should be able to reach him no matter what, theres alot of crazy networking crap that will prevent you from seeing people. For example when I tell my friend to download a file im seeding, i look for his IP in my peers list and sometimes I never see them even though they are downloading at a fair speed.

So im not saying your wrong for being mad, but im just saying theres several factors to think about before wanting to ban someone. And if you want to look on the bright side.. what did you loose by giving him your data? You had to wait anyway.

You are right though, you should have control over who you seed to. I could of swore there was a BAN IP for X mins thing.. but mabye im thinking of Azures.

The reason why its not a good idea to start banning people who are seemingly not giving you anything.. is because there resources may be tied up with other people.. and will eventually get around to you.. or maybe you already have everything they have. Thats why the bit torrent protocol works so well.

All things considered, 'hit and run' leechers are the worst thing for torrents. I really wish that clients would take a more active role against Hit and runners, YES it will be hacked but so what, the noobs wont have a clue, and the people that do wont have a problem.

[Switeck]

A right-click ban option for uTorrent is the most rejected feature request, simply because most people will abuse it.

Adding ips to ipfilter.dat is easy enough. If you bother doing that, you probably have your reasons.