New user, needs urgent help and cant seed any torrents!

[ShurikenUK]

Hi, first of all I just want to say, this has got to be one of, if not THE, best torrent site (of any kind, not just anime related) I've ever come across. Up until now, I've only been using a site called KAT, which is also really good, but what made this site stand out more, is A: The torrents download so fast it almost seems unreal (even if theres only 6 or so seeds), B: The other day I downloaded a couple of torrrents that were around 2 or more years old, and they downloaded in no time (that would practically NEVER happen on standard sites like KAT or the late BTJunkie) C: The amount of detail and dedication that seems to have gone into every torrents info page (again, something I've never come across before, atleast to this extent!).

Anyway now I've said all that, I have to say somethings worrying me, and I dont want to get banned because of a misunderstanding! I noticed my ratio last night was really bad (it said I'd D/L'ed 3+ gigs, but only seeded 50+kb), but I didn't understand why, because all the torrents I've got from here have been left to seed for as long as I've had them (which is only about 1-2 days). Obviously it just seems like I've got a limit of 0kbps upload speed on uTorrent, but that isn't true, its unlimited both ways. I have nothing against seeding torrents, and I've had the X-files, Silent Hill 3 and LOST seeding for around 6 months with ratios of 1.0-2.0!

whats most confusing, or concerning is that the torrents from here literally download in a flash (like 1.2mbps!!!), but I never, EVER see the upload readout going higher than 2kbps, and most of the time it isn't uploading anything at all.

It just seems like the site wont allow me to seed at all, and in the rare occasion that it DOES, its so slow, it isn't even worth mentioning. I want to give something back because Im not a sponge, and seeing as I cant seed anything, I noticed somebody asking for the Berserk "remake" movie the other night, and I have #1 dubbed in english, and I'd be happy to put it up here, but Im just a normal user so I cant upload it. Really though I just want to improve my ratio, but it seems like it wont be possible. I'd have to leave UTorrent open for 7 years straight, without downloading any more great anime from here, and also when I have Utorrent open, it practically renders internet browsing impossible, so if I have uTorrent open every day for a week, I have to stay off the internet for a week (but thats another issue).

Again, I've literally fallen in love with this site, so I want to stay in good standing with it, but I dont know what to do about the seeding problem. Other torrents like LOST have been seeding at over 100kbps, so I know its not a problem on my end of the line. If you need any more information, just let me know!

Thanks to anyone who can spare a few minutes to help out a new guy who's not an expert in Torrent physics!!!

cheers

Edit: I just want to add, I've checked the FAQ on the Wiki, but I dont know if the seeding related entries are related to the seeding problem I'm having. I read the part saying something like "if theres no seeds or peers, you cant seed yourself", but the problem is: When Im downloading, there ARE seeds & peers, but as soon as I've finished downloading, the seeds & peers seem to return to zero. I've been watching my BakaBT torrents in seeding mode for a long time, and I hardly ever see the seed/peer count go above 0, and when it does, the upload is usually so slow it would take a week to seed 1mb! I dont know much about how torrents work, other than something like "The more seeds/peers there are, the better the chance of a fast download" OR "the faster the download speeds of the peers/seeds, the faster YOUR download speed will be" (I've noticed that the total speed of all peers is the same as the speed of my d/l's for any given torrent). I've also checked the other seeding related threads I found, but none of the suggested solutions seem to work in my case...

[blubart]

thread #56476676... about this topic... *sigh*

To understand your issue you only really need a bit of common sense.
Imagine torrent trackers/aggregators being markets where you can sell/buy apples.

KAT is a market that has very few stands with sellers (and most sell low quality apples - but that's beside the point) but a lot of people who want to buy stuff. As a result as a buyer (downloader) it'll take you quite some time to get your basket of apples full - the stand might be out of stock (no seeders) or the salesperson is currently busy with another customer and you have to wait (few seeders, low download speeds).
The salespersons will have no problem to get their produce sold, because the customers have no other choice than to buy from them (good upload speed).

BakaBT on the other hand is a market that has dozens of high quality stands with full crews of personal each. whenever a customer shows up the salespersons basically swarm him and within seconds he's able to fill his basket (very fast download). Obviously a person can buy only so much so after his basic is full he won't buy any more apples.
That also means that every new hire to the market stands staff (new seed) will have a hard time selling much in a short period of time - even if he's offering quality goods - because he has to compete with all the other staff members also offering the product. Over time he'll make a sale here and there, but that takes patience and he can't give up after the first day at his job (spikey, on average low upload speed).


It's two sides of one coin. You can't have both extremely good download speeds and extremely good upload speeds in a swarm.

[ShurikenUK]

That IS an interesting analogy, but I often find that many of the torrents from there (although, limited usually to torrents  less than a year old), have a lot of seeds, sometimes even in the thousands range when it comes to big blockbuster movies (which dont really interest me), or AAA games. However, even with a 1000+ seeds, I've rarely come across a torrent that gives me more than 400kbps, so am I right or wrong in assuming that the total download speed of other people (peers/seeds?), makes up the download speed I will get, regardless of the amount of seeds/peers? If a torrent had 50 peers all downloading at 2kbps, I assume I'd be downloading at 100kbps, and if a torrent had 2 peers both downloading at 100kbps then I'd be downloading at 200kbps? Or is this just a misconception, because as I wrote earlier, I've often looked at the peer list and added up their individual speeds to a total that often fluctuates REALLY close to the speed Im getting. Am I just seeing patterns that dont actually exist or am I on the money?

Again, I know how to download torrents, its as easy as anything, but Im not going to say I understand much about how they work beyond the bare bones. I dont think its common sense, its just what you know (and I dont know much... yet ). For example if I was a torrent wiz-kid trying to explain how things worked to an old man who's completely unfamiliar with torrents, I dont think he'd appreciate me putting it down to common sense, since he's a lot older than me, and therefore would have a lot more common sense or tact than I, but he just doesn't understand torrents. The market analogy really does make it easier to understand though, so the imaginary old man might not feel as alienated if I explained things that way. Anyway I digress!

All I want to know, is how I can start giving back, without having to stop myself from downloading for half a year (which is how long it will take at this rate). If I cant have both, how do I switch from one to the other, how can I determine which torrents will seed good, and which ones will do nothing for days (like everything I have thus far)? Are there certain torrents from here that would seed a lot faster than torrents such as "Golgo 13" or "Cyber City"? I dont really want to have to download something Im not interested in just so I can seed it, I'd rather seed what I already have because my HDD space is getting VERY limited! It makes me feel like Im doing something bad, but in reality I've only downloaded a few things (maybe 3 or 4 torrents), so Im not trying "take take take" without giving any back.

Should I just forget about trying to seed these particular torrents and try to find others that WILL seed (but in the process thats making my ratio even worse...)? What would be the best thing to do, without having to deprive myself of my anime torrents? Im not a mega anime fan; I dont really follow modern anime, but I LOVE the old 80's-90's classics, and this is the only site thats been able to offer them to me! Do you think I'll only have a chance at getting good upload speeds if I download newer, more modern anime (in which case Im doomed, cos Im old fashioned)?

I guess you can call me stupid or torrent illiterate or whatever, but I think I just need the specifications laying out for me, so I can get straight to work on equalizing my ratio!

Edit: All I can do at this point is close the internet, open uTorrent, and hope that I can upload atleast 10mb in the next 5 hours, but I doubt it!

Cheers 

[Al_Sleeper]

You can download ANY torrents smaller than 100 MB or labelled with 1080p because they are freeleech on BakaBT, i.e. only your upload is registered in your ratio. Seeding only 2 or 3 torrents is NOT a good way to fix your ratio.

[ShurikenUK]

Okay thanks, I'll try that. I'll see what I can find. I've not long bought a nice HDTV too, and I haven't got the money to pay for a Sky+HD subscription, so I could get some HD anime. Im gonna have to stay offline for a while now, cos I cant run uTorrent and surf the net at the same time. I'll check back in a few hours, see if I've had any luck!

[Freedom Kira]

Again, I know how to download torrents, its as easy as anything, but Im not going to say I understand much about how they work beyond the bare bones.

In that case, you're one of those people who joined thinking you need an account in order to get anything from this site. The only thing that membership really offers is ratio tracking service, aside from other little things like getting to see which members are leeching/seeding any torrent (big whoop), being able to actively compete in the offer race (bigger whoop), and access to a nice online community (non-sarcastic whoop). By the way, the peer list and offer privilege are only granted to Power Users or higher.

Given your statement quoted above, I don't believe that an account really suits you. You will probably be better off downloading anonymously from the site.

... Im not trying "take take take" without giving any back.

Because BakaBT is the way it is, people are actually contributing to the site by downloading stuff, though many people don't realize this. You pointed it out yourself that we have an overpopulation of seeders, while leechers are very hard to come by. By downloading something, you become someone to seed to.

Combine both points above, and you'll realize that you actually benefit the site and its members more by not being a member and just downloading without an account. With your account, you hold back a lot because you see your ratio and panic, so you just download a small handful, and then spend days/weeks/months seeding back that small handful to something you think is acceptable while not downloading anything. If you don't have that to worry about, you end up downloading more freely.

Of course, if you feel some guilt, you can just seed back anonymously too, which is encouraged for different reasons that I don't want to get into here.