Cross Seeding

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Originally Posted by IdolEyes787

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Originally Posted by freak12345

nice bit of info guys, i was also wondering about this before...
though i think it would make sense for most of the trackers to allow this since there's not much difference between using this approach and downloading & seeding "free leech" torrents...

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The difference is that with "free leech" you are still initially contributing something to other members upload while with cross seeding you are basically benefiting at the expense of others .Look on some trackers and see dozens of seeders with nothing downloaded.:dabs:
You know I find it strange that people harp on ratio cheating but in terms of benefiting people other than oneself I see very little difference between the two.
The only time I see cross seeding as a positive thing is when the original uploaders speed is glacial and seriously on the sites that we are referring to here as being problematic how often does that happen ?Like maybe never.

Also there has been a lot of recent posts about "don't dare to join a site if you don't have the connection speed and aren't willing to pay for a seedbox to maintain ratio " which is pretty hypocritical since the cross seeders are in effect not really using the site either .
Personally if I staffed one of these trackers I'd much rather have a bunch of members with less than sterling ratios that attempt to "play by the rules" than a bunch of wanks getting most of their files from some other site and only pretending to use mine.
Way to steer the noobs in the right direction guys.:dabs:

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But the usual case with file(s) that can be cross-seeded is that the individual who uploaded that file(s) in the private tracker where he is a member of is usually not the person or is not part of the group who created the release (in most cases, like in the case of TV series episodes, the release is actually available in most public trackers) so there's not much difference between that uploader and the people who cross-seed that torrent. For all we know, the uploader's intention in making this file available in the private tracker where he is a member of is only to spread the release and make it convenient for other members to obtain the files without looking for other sources.

There is even one private tracker that I joined who level the playing field by making the torrents "free leech" once they determine that the release was available elsewhere and I applaud this approach since they encourage others to "spread" what their members already have but at the same time give a chance to leechers to download the file without taking a hit at their ratio.

So unless there's an exclusivity agreement between the group/person who uploaded the file(s) and the private tracker where the file(s) was originally uploaded, I don't see any harm being done for a tracker when a person tries to cross-seed the file that he got from another site. In contrast, it would even help make the file become more available to leechers of that tracker since more people will be helping out in the uploading of that file.

Come to think of it, isn't this what file-sharing is all about?

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Originally Posted by bumrocks

If you properly download a separate torrent file from each site you will not have any issues of improper reporting of stats. And therefore should not have one issue with cross-seeding or sending improper stats to the wrong site (I think I am repeating myself).

I use µTorrent 1.8.5, btw.

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You're absolutely right bumzy ... download a .torrent from tracker X, put it into UT and download it. Download the same .torrent from tracker Y and add it to UT. Do a forced check and when done, start seeding on tracker Y. That's all ... no bans, no troubles at all. Just did it 2 days ago.

I use UT 2.0.2.0 btw

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Originally Posted by bumrocks

My newest confusion is why you have to use different clients to seed at different places. I have never had an issue and am a member of probably too many sites.

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No need for confusion bumzy ... you don't need to use different clients on different trackers.

Wow Guys i see a lot of people have different opinions on this:)

Thanks for all the info

This is a quote from the guide that i found while originally researching cross seeding and the reason i asked.

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Lets say you have downloaded the torrent from Tracker 1 to C:\downloads

lets say the same torrent is there at tracker 2. download the the other torrent file. rename it and add it to utorrent as a seperate torrent. do not add the trackers from the second to the first torrent.

then when your adding the second torrent just change the directory to c:\downloads and then do a force re-check for the files. once all the files are accounted for in the second tracker then start seeding.

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Saw that guide too a while ago :)

All I can say is that the two .torrent-files I got from the 2 different trackers did not have the same name, but the content of the file I downloaded was identical.
UT didn't ask me anything, just made it another torrent right away.

Have checked the 2 trackers since and there's no improper seeding on any of both trackers so I guess it works like it's supposed to be.

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Originally Posted by freak12345

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Originally Posted by IdolEyes787

The difference is that with "free leech" you are still initially contributing something to other members upload while with cross seeding you are basically benefiting at the expense of others .Look on some trackers and see dozens of seeders with nothing downloaded.:dabs:
You know I find it strange that people harp on ratio cheating but in terms of benefiting people other than oneself I see very little difference between the two.
The only time I see cross seeding as a positive thing is when the original uploaders speed is glacial and seriously on the sites that we are referring to here as being problematic how often does that happen ?Like maybe never.

Also there has been a lot of recent posts about "don't dare to join a site if you don't have the connection speed and aren't willing to pay for a seedbox to maintain ratio " which is pretty hypocritical since the cross seeders are in effect not really using the site either .
Personally if I staffed one of these trackers I'd much rather have a bunch of members with less than sterling ratios that attempt to "play by the rules" than a bunch of wanks getting most of their files from some other site and only pretending to use mine.
Way to steer the noobs in the right direction guys.:dabs:

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But the usual case with file(s) that can be cross-seeded is that the individual who uploaded that file(s) in the private tracker where he is a member of is usually not the person or is not part of the group who created the release (in most cases, like in the case of TV series episodes, the release is actually available in most public trackers) so there's not much difference between that uploader and the people who cross-seed that torrent. For all we know, the uploader's intention in making this file available in the private tracker where he is a member of is only to spread the release and make it convenient for other members to obtain the files without looking for other sources.

There is even one private tracker that I joined who level the playing field by making the torrents "free leech" once they determine that the release was available elsewhere and I applaud this approach since they encourage others to "spread" what their members already have but at the same time give a chance to leechers to download the file without taking a hit at their ratio.

So unless there's an exclusivity agreement between the group/person who uploaded the file(s) and the private tracker where the file(s) was originally uploaded, I don't see any harm being done for a tracker when a person tries to cross-seed the file that he got from another site. In contrast, it would even help make the file become more available to leechers of that tracker since more people will be helping out in the uploading of that file.

Come to think of it, isn't this what file-sharing is all about?

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If it didn't ( potentially) adversely effect other people's ratios by doing it thus sure.

Once again I think the the point being overlooked by anyone championing cross seeding here is that people who do it are not downloading anything from the secondary site(s) and therefore not allowing other members to upload anything to them making ratio maintaining at these already presumably hard to maintain a ratio at places( otherwise why cross seed in the first place?) even more difficult.:mellow:

And please don't give me the lame excuse that is is done to "help out with the speed" because as stated the places where people most likely feel the need to cross seed are the very places with the best speeds anyway( ie lots of seedboxes) which is basically probably why some people feel the need to cross seed in the first place.:unsure:

And no file sharing is about strangely ...you know sharing whereas what is suggested here is pretty much a one way street called "doing what is the best thing for you with little concern about anyone else" .
Why is it so difficult for anyone to admit that?

Btw I knows I'm a self righteous prig but I've seriously lost respect for some people here that support this practice.

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Originally Posted by Disme

You're absolutely right bumzy ... download a .torrent from tracker X, put it into UT and download it. Download the same .torrent from tracker Y and add it to UT. Do a forced check and when done, start seeding on tracker Y. That's all ... no bans, no troubles at all. Just did it 2 days ago.

I use UT 2.0.2.0 btw

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Originally Posted by bumrocks

My newest confusion is why you have to use different clients to seed at different places. I have never had an issue and am a member of probably too many sites.

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No need for confusion bumzy ... you don't need to use different clients on different trackers.

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It just means that you have not come across any that have identical hash (and you can check the hash under the general tab).

If you don't believe me, create two torrents with the same files, one right after another with different trackers and don't change anything in the file structure, then try to add both to your client. The generation of the Hash are case sensitive. All it takes is one torrent site to have a letter with a capital in it, and another without a capital and you have a different hash. I've been admins on several trackers, and when people merge tracker URLs they always think they are cross seeding and not doing anything, because "someone told them there is nothing wrong with cross-seeding." Users need to understand what is right, and what is wrong. Just because its a second torrent from a different site does not mean that it will always work 100% of the time as a second torrent.

i cross seed all the time, sometime even to 10 trackers at same time. GB box FTW !

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Originally Posted by Hombre

i cross seed all the time, sometime even to 10 trackers at same time. GB box FTW !

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Why? Surely with a Gbit box you don't need the ratio. Do the enormous upload stats make your epeen feel bigger?

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Originally Posted by IdolEyes787

If it didn't ( potentially) adversely effect other people's ratios by doing it thus sure.

Once again I think the the point being overlooked by anyone championing cross seeding here is that people who do it are not downloading anything from the secondary site(s) and therefore not allowing other members to upload anything to them making ratio maintaining at these already presumably hard to maintain a ratio at places( otherwise why cross seed in the first place?) even more difficult.:mellow:

And please don't give me the lame excuse that is is done to "help out with the speed" because as stated the places where people most likely feel the need to cross seed are the very places with the best speeds anyway( ie lots of seedboxes) which is basically probably why some people feel the need to cross seed in the first place.:unsure:

And no file sharing is about strangely ...you know sharing whereas what is suggested here is pretty much a one way street called "doing what is the best thing for you with little concern about anyone else" .
Why is it so difficult for anyone to admit that?

Btw I knows I'm a self righteous prig but I've seriously lost respect for some people here that support this practice.

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I'm not sure how you feel about this but the same can also be applied for people using seedboxes.
3-4 years ago, it wouldn't be very difficult for any home internet user with a decent ISP connection to seed back the files that they've downloaded from private trackers but with cheap seedbox resellers now popping up left and right, home internet users who are members of private trackers are also put at a disadvantage in terms of seeding back stuff that they've downloaded.

I for one have been hit with this disadvantage when I renewed my interest in joining private trackers just a few weeks ago (the last time that I've been this active was around 3-4 years ago). But instead of bitching out that my speed can't compete with people who have seedboxes, I myself decided to level the playing field by also getting a decent seedbox for myself. Of course, I still make sure that I give my share back to the tracker that I'm joining by seeding files for as long as I can (in fact, I still have torrents that I continue to seed on my local machine even after I have removed them from my seedbox). So just like people using seedboxes, I would say that cross-seeding is just one other way of allowing other users especially those who depend on their ISP's bandwidth to at least level the playing field as long as it is not against the rules of the tracker that you a member of.

Anyway, as with any other gray-area discussions in file-sharing, there will always be 2 sides of the story in it but I think the thing that matters here is that the OP have been informed about the different opinions that other members feel about this topic so it would be up to him to choose which approach he thinks would be right for him since basically, most trackers don't find anything wrong with this approach so he is not really breaking any rules.

And btw, I don't see you as a prig dude. When I'm not posting, I usually lurk around other threads in this forum and most of the interesting discussions that I find usually involves you and other big-timers here in FST.

What trackers do not allow cross seeding, if any(besides internal encodes and packs)?