Discussion: Seed Balancing

[RosalieRMX]

Over night, I proposed a seeding method in which the fastest seeders are throttled to take up only the slack of the rest, so that slow seeders maximize their capacity without compromising the speed of a torrent.

The proposal was sunk, apparently due to misphrasing. Before I rephrase the proposal, I'd welcome some input on it.

I made this proposal because, in my experience, fast seeders push the slower ones aside. To my mind this both burdens slower seeders who wish to contribute and discourages those that don't, if it does not actively contribute to or encourage their behavior.

By intelligently controling seed preference - prioritizing the fast in the start and finish of a torrent, and the slow, supplemented by the fast, in between - the greatest number of seeders are engaged, while maintaining the maximum speed of a torrent.

Any comments?

[DreadWingKnight]

Peers naturally lock on to seeds that provide them fast speeds consistently.

Peers also naturally lock on to other peers that they establish a trade relationship with.

The bulk of the problem you're describing comes from the CHRONIC overseeding of torrents on the ratio tracking sites and isn't seen nearly as much on public torrents.

It's more the conditions on the specific sites than it is the seeds themselves that are causing the issue.

[RosalieRMX]

I imagine you are correct that fast seeders tend to gravitate to certain sites, rather than bob around in public and in those cases in which a torrent doesn't max out a peers dowload speed, the issue is moot.

That said, I wouldn't say fast seeders who continue seeding after they hit their ratio - on ratio metered sites - are the root of that problem as, in the end, it is the client which sets the rules. By gaming seeds, the benefit of fast seeds could be maintained, while the slower ones contribute to their potential.

[DreadWingKnight]

Nope. The protocol already compensates for the situation you described, except in the chronic overseeding situations of most ratio tracking sites.

The root problem isn't in the client.

[RosalieRMX]

Do you mean that the effect of such a seed gaming routine would be negligible until or unless it propogate, considering it would be the peers who determine which seeds they prefer?

[DreadWingKnight]

It simply wouldn't help at all.

Chronic overseeding won't allow the "lower-class" seeds to seed any more, mainly because of how the tracker software that run most of the sites end up giving out peer lists.

Until chronic overseeding goes away, "lower-class" seeds won't get their turn.

[RosalieRMX]

I suppose it's a mix of the client and tracker behavior.

I suppose it might be possible for trackers to keep track of seeding ratios and selectively gate peers, but it would be limited to switching a peer on or off (in a manner of speaking) and damage speeds.

It seems to me that clients could tackle the issue more elegantly by gaming the seeds. What makes you so definite about the impossibility and how does that relate to trackers?

[DreadWingKnight]

The ONLY time your issue comes up is on a chronically overseeded torrent.

The only time that's a problem of any kind is on the ratio tracking sites.

The solution comes from those sites cleaning up their policies. NOT from client changes.

[zalta999]

Hi.

I found some errors in the installer (for italian langauge).

Could you give an email (via PM) where I can send the screenshoots with problem highlighted?

Can I partecipate to revise the installer script (italian) to fix theese problems?

I found some untranslated strings in uTorrent UI

- About window

- Settings -> Updates

[ciaobaby]

Wrong section

http://forum.utorrent.com/viewforum.php?id=7

[RosalieRMX]

You note "over-seeding" is only a problem on fast trackers. True, but it's the "over-seeders" which make the difference between slow and fast trackers. I like fast torrents. To my mind the solution is not to shut out "over-seeders", but work on the protocol. As you say, over-seeding is an issue because the protocol can't deal with it.

[DreadWingKnight]

As you say, over-seeding is an issue because the protocol can't deal with it.

The problem is only from the RATIO TRACKING SITES. It's NOT the protocol's problem.