Are you seeding your files?

[Six_Digits]

Are you seeding what you download? I would guess 1 of 5 people that read this actually share a torrent after they download. Is it hard to leave the torrent seeding while you surf the web? You can even limit your upload speed if bandwidth is an issue. I just don't see why the number of seeders in even the most popular torrents basically stays the same over WEEKS of time. More people NEED TO SEED! The weird thing is, bad files generally have just as many seeders. WHY would someone seed bad files?

Sorry but I had to rant somewhere, I'm sure there are others who share my grief.

[LaRoza]

I always seed until the ratio is 1:1 at least.

I rarely use torrents though.

[Six_Digits]

I always seed until the ratio is 1:1 at least.

If everybody did that, the world of torrents would be a much faster place!

[amazingtaters]

I seed until at least a 1:1 ratio, unless there is no one upping from me for around 12 hours straight. I mean, if I'm connected to peers but no one is pulling from me for half a day or more, not even one byte, then I take that to mean that my seeding that torrent is unneeded. I generally make up for though by seeding indefinitely on active torrents (a good active torrent could easily get me a ratio of 10:1 or more.)

[TBOL3]

I try to seed until I've given out twice the size of the file download. But this is hard for bigger files. And I've used 3 torrents in my life.

[SomeGuyDude]

Depends on what it is.

Open source software? I tend to seed that perpetually.

Movies and such with eighty billion seeds? Nah.

Rarer things? Yeah.

[hyper_ch]

I seed as long as I have some interest in the torrent... there's a 50 GB torrent which I have seeded now to a ratio 6 : 1

[Kingsley]

Due to the nature of my university's network, my download speed is at its fastest when my upload speed is unlimited. By the time I finish downloading something, my ratio is around 1.3. I wish I didn't have to seed though because the RIAA is apparently on the prowl at my university.

Back home where I have Comcast, I cap my upload speed because it slows my download otherwise. The ratio usually ends up being below 0.5.

[elmer_42]

I usually seed to about a 1.25 ratio, but I always get to at least 1:1.

[billgoldberg]

With a 35gb data limit on my connection, I can't afford to share my torrents unless I want to get a 24kb/sec connection.

If I were to have a normal internet connection like available in most countries, I would love to share.

[Vaelrith]

Due to the nature of my university's network, my download speed is at its fastest when my upload speed is unlimited. By the time I finish downloading something, my ratio is around 1.3. I wish I didn't have to seed though because the RIAA is apparently on the prowl at my university.

Same here. A few people I know at my university have gotten busted by the RIAA.

[y-lee]

Of course I seed, in ubuntu it doesn't really slow down my machine or web browser much. In windows it made it impossible to use my machine while doing so but even then i seeded at night while I slept.

[Freddy]

I seed every Enlightenment17 based distro there is exept Elive that is, I'll seed the current version of those distros for as long as needed and they are maintained. The developer of Elive asked for donations before downloading so I won't seed their distro, cause I believe it would be a "moral" piracy act to do that.

Abuse my bandwidth and take 'OzOS' or 'Maryan Linux' out for a spinn, for now I would suggest OzOS though, there are some quirks left in 'Maryan Linux' to be ironed out but it looks quite promising though.

[Freddy]

Same here. A few people I know at my university have gotten busted by the RIAA.
It's not againt the law to share and upload data, it's againt the law to share and to distribute data which is copyrighted. So if you only seed GPL licensed software...

[Tundro Walker]

So here's a curious side-tracking to this thread.

The Ubuntu repo's are hosted on servers, letting you get what you need. Why not alter them into torrents? Synaptic perhaps could get modified to look preferably for torrent clients hosting the package first, and siphon those off, but if no one's seeding, it'll fall back to the server host.

Just curious. With GPG, I would think Ubuntu could keep track of the package keys, and ensure the 10 folks it's pulling from were using the proper version, piece it together, and save some bandwidth for the main servers.

Maybe the torrent model just isn't good for something like repo's.

I personally hardly ever use torrents or P2P, but when I did in the past, I would keep seeding to 1:1, or further if I could. But eventually I get tired of the bandwidth siphoning off while I'm trying to do other things.

[st0n3cutt3r]

I seed as much as I can (share ratio: 5.2+), but I am less inclined to seed things with 100+ seeders, and if I ever get the wrong file (mislabeled, etc) I just delete it.

(seed while you sleep. It's easy, and you'll never notice the lost bandwidth)

also, seeding less than 15kb/s is invisible to me while I am browsing (max up is 60kb/s?) so it's not painful at all to leave it on all the time.

[rabid9797]

i only use torrents off of demonoid, so i always seed(everything). makes me feel like im giving back to the community

[Vaelrith]

It's not againt the law to share and upload data, it's againt the law to share and to distribute data which is copyrighted. So if you only seed GPL licensed software...

I know, but recently lots of people have gotten busted for downloading copyrighted material such as music. My friends and I have started seeding various linux distributions so they will see that we are uploading, but they can't do anything about it, because it's completely legal.

[arsenic23]

Let's check my torrent server's logs....

113 gigs downloaded
367 gigs seeded

[JBAlaska]

Rank VIP
Downloaded: 118.88 GB
Uploaded: 23.04 TB
Ratio 198.45


Yup, I seeeeeed!

[st0n3cutt3r]

Rank VIP
Downloaded: 118.88 GB
Uploaded: 23.04 TB
Ratio 198.45


Yup, I seeeeeed!

23TB?! that is absurd!

I am reminded of dynasty warriors 4 "You are a hero without equal!"

[swoll1980]

I find that the only things I use torrents for are things I shouldn't be downloading in the first place. I find that anything legitimate I download has a direct link. So I don't seed out fear of financial liability

[Depressed Man]

I usually try to seed so it's back to a 1:1 ratio. Sometimes I'll leave it on for longer depending on bandwith usage.

[RRS]

Linux distros and such I usually leave open till at least 3.1 Other stuff till about 2.1 unless seeders outnumber peers by a substantial amount.

I do have to limit the upload speed though or it kills my other online activities.


I find that the only things I use torrents for are things I shouldn't be downloading in the first place..........So I don't seed out fear of financial liability
You're also uploading till the download is finished, that's how torrents work. Not seeding afterwards probably won't help much if you end up in court, sorry.
I'm not a lawyer though so I could be wrong.

[Superkoop]

I always try to seed things as much as I can, and I generally get it up to 5:1. Although somethings that get close to a gig generally only get a 2:1 ratio.
Right now I am seeding a PS1 game that I needed to DL because I kinda scratched the disk a bit too deep to fix...=\ (I love FFTactics, quite a sad day when I scratched it so it won't work...but a really happy day now that I found it in a torrent.(this shouldn't be illegal because I own it...)(but if it is, well I want to play my game too much to care))

[danbuter]

I don't seed because I don't understand the technology at all. I've never used Torrent. And it gives me security heeby-jeebies.

[AusIV4]

So here's a curious side-tracking to this thread.

The Ubuntu repo's are hosted on servers, letting you get what you need. Why not alter them into torrents? Synaptic perhaps could get modified to look preferably for torrent clients hosting the package first, and siphon those off, but if no one's seeding, it'll fall back to the server host.

DebTorrent (http://packages.ubuntu.com/hardy/net/debtorrent) will be available for Hardy, though I don't believe it will be in the default installation.

[vishzilla]

1:1 is what I seed. Sometimes I miss the mark ;)

[Six_Digits]

Wow, I'm pretty impressed with the amount of responses. I'm glad mostly everyone aims for a 1 to 1 ratio, and I understand the idea of being selective depending on the type of torrent. Good feedback guys.

[wolfen69]

Rank VIP
Downloaded: 118.88 GB
Uploaded: 23.04 TB
Ratio 198.45


Yup, I seeeeeed!

wish there were more people like you.

i usually seed a file for a long time. ive been seeding one torrent for over 3 weeks now.

[quanumphaze]

I aim for 1.5 minimum

Often they go over 1.7 or 2 by themselves before they are even downloaded completely.
I always seed rare ones but popular ones (eg Ubuntu 7.10 when it first came out) take forever to get above 0.4 because there are so many seeders I don't get any out.

I am in Australia where I get a 4000/700 kb/s ish connection on a good day. Downloads are metered (speed dropped to 60kb/s after limit is reached) but uploads are free, so I often seed until I need hard disk space for the next ones.

[pbpersson]

I always use Torrents and when I download something it's usually late at night and I just let the computer seed all night and the following day while I'm at work.

One time I did that and the following day I was working from home. I couldn't figure out why the Internet connection was so slow while I was trying to get things done...... :confused:

[hyper_ch]

It's not againt the law to share and upload data, it's againt the law to share and to distribute data which is copyrighted. So if you only seed GPL licensed software...

Actually most data is copyrighted. Only stuff that belongs to the public domain isn't.... GPLed stuff is also copyrighted (however it grants you the freedom to freely distribute)

[billgoldberg]

Same here. A few people I know at my university have gotten busted by the RIAA.

I don't get why people are afraid of a private company.

I would laugh in their faces if there Belgian equivalent (BAF) were to knock on my door.

[Tundro Walker]

I don't get why people are afraid of a private company.

I would laugh in their faces if there Belgian equivalent (BAF) were to knock on my door.

The RIAA and it's watch-dogs have sort of been allowed to go on a witch hunt here in the U.S. The problem with it is that a big corporation is using under-handed tactics to try to pressure folks into guilt. For instance, they'll send out blanket letters trying to accuse folks, and then try to prosecute anyone who steps forward if they think the letter was meant for them.

The real issue is that as a large corporation, the RIAA and it's folks can afford to spend tons of money on all this crap. But, the folks they single out get stuck with all kinds of legal fees trying to defend (protect) themselves from the witch hunt BS. Sometimes the RIAA is correct in who they're trying to prosecute. But, there's just been several cases where they falsely accused someone, and it hasn't panned out, then they just up and walk away, leaving these folks with tons of money to spend on the lawyer that defended them. It's like having the local mafia show up and accuse you of taking money. They beat the crap out of you, and even if they finally figure out that you didn't do anything wrong, you still have the crap kicked out of you and your apartment is trashed. Guess who gets to spend the money on the doctor bills and new furniture.

What gets me about this is that folks haven't been able to sue the crap out of the RIAA for false implication or lawyer fees. Maybe they have, but I haven't heard of successful reward in such cases. It seems the RIAA can go around stirring up all kinds of trouble, but they can't get blamed for it.

Likewise, they can seed "false" content on the internet which seems legit but copyrighted (EG: a movie, a song, whatever), and then trace the IP's trying to download it and prosecute them. In America, we usually call that "entrapment" when a police officer entices someone into commiting a crime. But, apparently the RIAA is allowed to get away with it.

It's a lot of BS, and more and more folks are just tired of it, and it perpetuates more folks wanting to d/l copyrighted stuff just to flip the bird at them. They need to just give up and accept (like Microsoft) that there will always be a small group of folks that will always pirate stuff. Beating up or trying to entrap honest users only ticks off the larger consumer base.

[Freddy]

Actually most data is copyrighted. Only stuff that belongs to the public domain isn't.... GPLed stuff is also copyrighted (however it grants you the freedom to freely distribute)
Yeah of course you are right, what can I say it was late at night here :).

[bonzodog]

Well, it seems my ISP is preventing me from using torrent entirely, as they are unofficially traffic shaping the connections, and the max they will allow for torrents is 1k/s. There is almost nothing I can do about this, as it's not officially happening.

[Freddy]

How can I delete a post?

[ghindo]

I try to seed to at least a 1.00 ratio for every torrent I have, but I also go to a university which restricts how much you can download/upload per day, so it's a bit tricky.

[wouldya]

I dont seed my files and my husband doesnt too because our internet is always causing troubles when we seed to much.

[herbster]

I have dozens of torrents seeding 24/7, my worst ratio is 2.5 or so. I usually let them seed for at least a few months.

[Colro]

I usually seed to at least 2.0 before removing the torrent. I've got my upload set to only about 20% of my cap, so it really doesn't slow me down at all to have it running in the tray. I've been known to keep torrents going for weeks and weeks and usually only remove them if I get too many going at once.

[NightwishFan]

Generally I seed a torrent constantly, and only remove if I want newer torrents. I only torrent linux distros though, to save their bandwidth.

[bohica8418]

I have utorrent set up to seed 1:1 and then stop. Between the risk of RIAA, and the fact that i cant actually delete the compressed files until I have finished seeding I feel like its a pretty big inconvenience, but I also believe you shouldn't be using torrents if your not willing to give back at least as much as you take. Also if i stumble across a seed request for a file I have, I always reseed the item.

[SupaSonic]

I never seed, because my up speed is always bigger than my down speed, so by the time I'm done downloading, the ratio is > 1

[misfitpierce]

Always seed until at minimum 1.2 seed ratio

[insane_alien]

i seed till a share ratio of 2, unless uts ubuntu then it gets seeded till next release. ratio of 200 just now.

[miggols99]

I don't seed, because my upload speed is about 10KB/s and even that slows down everything internet related...good old Sky Broadband :/

[insane_alien]

i only limit my uploading to 9kb/s to prevent that.

you don't have to give much bandwidth, as in the tesco adverts 'every little helps'

[Raven_Oscar]

Well as for me it depends form file. I am seeding open source software till I actually have it on my HDDs. As for movies and all other stuff like that I am seeding it till ratio is at least 1:1.

[BanskuZ]

I'll stop seeding when the ratio is something like ~1.0. I have then done my part.

[MightyMag]

I always seed to 2.5:1 ratio. I've got a sweet 100/100mbit connection so it's no problem for me.

[tekoholix]

I run debtorrent, and torrentflux-b4rt on my home media server.

The torrentflux server is set up to share to a 500% / 5:1 ratio, then stop. It usually gets there, unless I set a torrent differently.

I'm just starting out with debtorrent, so I'm not sure how to limit it's seeding, or what it's default settings are. I am sure, however, that not enough people are using it, as it's never got any peers available...


Get it installed, and ALL our updates will be faster / easier!!


sudo apt-get install debtorrent apt-transport-debtorrent

[Polygon]

I always seed to 2.0 ratio, and depending on what it is i usually remove it to make room for more seeds.

[Christmas]

Usually I seed for a short amount of time after I download something, unless the ratio is over 1:1 download/upload. But it's not a rule, sometimes I close the torrent client if I need to do other work.

[Six_Digits]

1.1s perfect. We all know however, there are plenty of people that don't care, and stop the torrent (I've seen it firsthand) as soon as the files done. Videos for example; Not too hard to seed while you watch the movie, huh. Though most movies tend to have plenty of peers, theres other file-types that would allow the same concept.

Seed while you sample.

BTW, the poll shows almost exactly what I would have guessed! ;)

[Paqman]

Hey, if you really want to be a good torrent user, grab a copy of the latest release of <insert distro x> and seed away. Torrents are by far the easiest and fastest way to distribute Linux.

I weep for the people who'll be trying to d/l Hardy from Canonical's servers later this week.

[T-Virus]

I seed to at least 1:1. But yes it does depend. If it's the torrent I uploaded myself I can't just seed until it's 1:1. :)

[Six_Digits]

Hey, if you really want to be a good torrent user, grab a copy of the latest release of <insert distro x> and seed away. Torrents are by far the easiest and fastest way to distribute Linux.

I weep for the people who'll be trying to d/l Hardy from Canonical's servers later this week.

Indeed. Unlike Canonical servers, the more busy the torrent is, the better :)

[aaaantoine]

I just finished torrent-downloading the 64-bit 8.04 RC, which took less than 15 minutes. Ten minutes later, I've seeded for 6.6 MB worth of data. That's about 1:100. It will take me a tremendously long time to give back what I have taken.

By the time I have a 1:1 ratio, no one will want the release candidate anymore because 8.04 final will be released.

Though I am technically seeding, I voted "no" because, personally, I don't consider it a true seed unless I've met the 1:1 ratio.

Edit: Holy crap, upload speed shot up dramatically. I have now seeded 24MB and counting (a ratio of 1:29 bytes seeded per bytes download).

[Endolith]

I run debtorrent, and torrentflux-b4rt on my home media server.

What's the difference between debtorrent and Apt-Torrent?