Greetings, I found this post by searching for the exact problem you stated in the first post. I hate when it happens (that one has 98% of a file, then it just stops)... but there is another reason for the increasing frequency that this is occuring. - Note: I am just another downloader (leecher) like you, I am not a seeder, except of files that I have received while and after I receive them, but I know seeders, and the following is the way some of them look at the situation:
A lot of the seeders are irritated with the "eat and run" people. They seed with the hope that eventually there will be enough seeders, so someone else will take over seeding the file they have made available. The problem is, people aren't doing that. People are downloading, and when it gets to 100% they take off. The seeder view is: If you take off after downloading 100% then why shouldn't THEY also? See the point?
So, like with everything else, things progress / evolve. The torrent situation has evolved so it forces the leechers to seed. What the seeders have started doing is: They seed until a lot of people have 98% or more, then STOP, so all the leechers will supply the other leechers with 98% of the file, then one day, at their leasure, the 100% seeder will generously come online, and let everyone enjoy getting the 100% that they have waited for all this time... and that means EVERYONE has patiently supplied the 98% for others, while waiting for the last %. See how it works? Most people don't want to miss when the 100%er comes online, so they just leave the torrent running, letting others leech their incomplete download.
However, there are examples of seeders who can't be online longer than a specific time, and when they go offline, so does the seed. They then come online when they can, and you can finish the leech.
However, I have heard that just like with other things, there is also FAD among seeders of the original file, to see who among them dares to leave the original seed until someone has 99.9% of it before stopping it. That way everyone who is leeching only needs 0.01% to finish!!! -However, sometimes they can be REAL jerks about FINISHING IT! ... Cos they know that when 1 person gets 100%, they might not be the "eat and run" type... So everyone else will get 100% too. hehe... See how it helps to share? - However... I know of actual cases where 1. An ARTIST placed a huge dummy 99.9% torrent online to stop people stealing their work! Aha! That has also happened! Artists / their record companies are catching on! 2. Seeder placed a dud .rar file in the folder, but replaced it with the right one when he wanted to finish. This is sometimes the case when they have had to re-seed the whole thing... Seeders make mistakes too, when trying to bring about their way!
Again, I am not a seeder, and I hate when I get stuck with 98% and have to wait for days before the seeder comes online... but now at least I know why it's happening. A lot of seeders are pleased, if after you download, you leave the 100% file online for 1 day. That way they can be sure everyone got it.
It's all supposed to be part of the "community" spirit of the thing.
... and just in case anyopne was wondering, torrents aren't only used fopr spreading of illegal material. There is also a lot of public domain educational stuff, free audiobooks, music (including my original music), etc. being shared via torrent.
;-)
after trashing them i got almost 20Gigs of HD space back. 
