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BitTorrent Etiquette: Seeding

B

blackpeter

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 14, 2001
922
5
Just wanted to take a poll as to how one should seed a completed BitTorrent download.

- 1x/2x/3x the file size
- for a period of time, like 1 hour or 1 day
- close Torrent once the file is complete
 
I make sure I seed to 1:1, normally not much more than that, only because I have others that need to be seeded to get them to 1:1, and so on... (need more upstream bandwidth!!).
 
I guess one should seed for as long as possible, or at least until you reach a 1:1 ratio. I do more often than not but normally I quit once I finish.
 
i typically seed 1:1. depending on what it is i'll seed a lot more. some of the TWiT podcasts i have seeded about 20-30 times the filesize just to help out since i can't really afford to donate(subscribe) right now.
 
I'm not a very good seeder, not because I don't want to but cause I have dialup. I often leave bittorent running during the night, if the file is finished in the morning regardless of how far along it has seeded I'll remove it.
 
I think 1:1 is the minimum, but I might cut out early if it's topheavy with seeders, or stick around as long as necessary if I'm one of the few people with the whole seed.
 
As a rule of thumb 1:1 is a good one, however i usually take into account how many seeders there are. Unfortunately i like fairly obscure things and so sometimes you are the only person seeding to a handful of people who have neeaarly finished and i find it very hard to let them down. :eek:

Still make up for it by not seeding so long if it is really popular. :eek:

I s'ppose it just depends on how community minded you are.
 
I usually do 2:1 but at the bare minimum 1:1. Sometimes I'll just leave it on overnight and seed like 20:1. Pretty much the only thing I get off BT is TV shows, and those usually have lots of seeders. Still, most have slow connections and I upload at about 200K/s so I usually stick around a while.
 
I always try to seed to a 1:1 ratio, whether all at once, or in intervals. Also, on the websites I have to sign up for, I try my best to keep my uploads higher than my downloads, although thats very hard when you download a DVD or something, then gotta upload 4.3GB of data at 42kb/s, while downloading at 350kb/s :p
 
My DSL connection is somewhat unusual in that my upload speed is not much lower than my download speed. Download is about 1-1.2 Mbps in reality, while my upload speed is right around 900 kbps. Often when I'm downloading something big, I end up seeding more than I've downloaded before I'm even finished with the whole download. Anyway, I try to always do at least 1:1, but sometimes I seed much more than that on smaller files. My over all ratio for all the Bittorrent I've done is around 1.5 as reported by the main tracker I use. Bittorrent really only works well because on average people seed at least as much as they leech. So as far as etiquette goes, you should always have at least a 1:1 seeding ratio.
 
i do a minimum of 1:2. a lot of the time i leave it on over night and it will go 1:10 or sometimes more. if i only go 1:1 i end up closing the torrent shortly after i am done dling and that isnt cool for other people. also it depends on how many seeders and leechers there are
 
i agree in seeding to usually 1:1, but at the moment i am downloading a 2.94gb file from a tracker site that i dont usually use, and they don't inforce uploading so i have a download of 4kb/s and and upload of 60kb/s iv already uploaded 4.76gb and i am starting to feel pissed off as there are about 25 people who recently doenloaqded the file and are not uploading!! also as my share ratio aproaches 1:4 this is annoying to, as i can't see myself getting this file for a good 3 weeks!!
 
I Try

I only used BT for a couple of things. I used Bits on Wheels, and seeing the 3D Swarm work I realized very quickly that I had to send as well. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to set my wireless router to open up the necessary ports once my dl is complete: anyone attemting to connect to my seed is bumped off. It was frustrating.
 
I seed for as long as it's practical, usually 1:1. But I'm willing to shorten it if there are a lot more seeders than leechers, and vice-versa. I've actually racked up a pretty big share ratio at one site and have been kind of selfish lately to normalize it.
 
I have no hard rules for seeding just a few loose ones...

Sometimes I'll close the window as soon as it's done downloading, but I make up for this by letting some completed torrents run over night and well into the next day. If I do this I usually end up 1:5 or 1:10

If theres just one person downloading i'll seed as long as possible.

It's very hard for me because my download speed is 2mbit where as my upload is 256kbit! Damn British Telecom holding back the UK :(
 
If the site doesn't require registration or a ratio, like the recently deceased BTefnet.com, bless their souls, then I'll just hit and run and let some other poor schmuck take up the seeding.

However, if it's a quality site with fresh releases and a ratio system, I am more than generous with my upload streams.
 
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