are wait times for new users really a good policy?

I'm a good user and have great speed, so I can usually get past the new user wait times in a few days. But I was thinking about it when I saw this new site with 72 hour wait times and not many leechers on the torrents new users can download. It seems that placing a long wait time on new users would cause more leeching than it could possibly prevent. I see how placing wait times on users who have been a member and kept a bad ratio is justified, but with new users, especially on sites that get a lot of first time private tracker, makes it even harder to start off with a decent ratio.

For example, if I download even a popular torrent that is three days old, I will have to wait weeks to seed it back, if there are even enough leechers coming after me. So, if I'm a n00b and grab a 2-3 torrents in the excitement of getting access to a cool new private tracker, I will then be a few GBs in the hole with almost no chance of seeding my way out, even with a fast connection like I have. So those folks with slower connections or a preference for HD or full DVDs face a difficult time of proving themselves.

It seems this policy is mainly in place so people who just signed up can't hit and run the newest torrents. But that doesn't make sense because these are the torrents where there is less of a problem for hit and run, since they at least offer the opportunity to seed back if you stay with the swarm. Sure, there will be those people who h&r a new torrent before it has enough seeders, but those are easy bans to make.

So, any administrators reading this, please consider ending wait times. I can argue even more reasons about this, but for the sake of brevity, I'll stop here for now.

Wait times for new users have been put into place so that they can get some donations going in the process or so i think.

I like the idea, weeds out bad users or users that dont know how to seed right. If you can seed on a torrent that is 72 hours old, you can definitely seed one that is brand new.

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Originally Posted by Aether

I like the idea, weeds out bad users or users that dont know how to seed right. If you can seed on a torrent that is 72 hours old, you can definitely seed one that is brand new.

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Totally agree with u :yup:

they should give u at least 1 with no wait so u can build your share ratio

It's a bad ideea !No reason...

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Originally Posted by Aether

I like the idea, weeds out bad users or users that dont know how to seed right. If you can seed on a torrent that is 72 hours old, you can definitely seed one that is brand new.

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Leaving something seeding for weeks or months just doesn't make much sense for me. I don't download anything older than 3 days, if that, usually I grab something within a few hours of it being upped.

I don't really know what you mean by knowing how to seed. Leaving it in your client forever is lame. I'd rather have a user that visits the site often and jumps in on new swarms than one who occasionally logs in to search & leech for some random week old torrent (or older).

It's a stupid idea imo. The sign of a badly managed tracker.

I fully agree with you. Wait time for new users is probably the most unnecessary and stupid thing on a tracker.

I don't mind it, but I think it should be only for low ratios. Many times I go to a new tracker and end up either having to upload something of my own if I can, or download the torrent from somewhere else and seed it there or download some week old torrent that will take me weeks to seed back, and new users haven't done anything bad...

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Originally Posted by TidusBlade

I don't mind it, but I think it should be only for low ratios. Many times I go to a new tracker and end up either having to upload something of my own if I can, or download the torrent from somewhere else and seed it there or download some week old torrent that will take me weeks to seed back, and new users haven't done anything bad...

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Exactly! I feel like its such a pain in the ass. I could easily seed a torrent I've grabbed elsewhere to build a ratio, but you can't even do that during the wait time. I could just grab one torrent and seed it back to build up a nice buffer, helping the swarm, but no, because admins are iffy about brand new users who might leech a few GBs and never seed it back.

wait times = :ghey:

Wait time should be replaced with 5gig upload credit for new members.

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Originally Posted by soulreaper

Wait times for new users have been put into place so that they can get some donations going

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that's the way I've always viewed wait times. if you donate they go away.

Wait times suck. Only makes ratio building for new users harder, since new torrents have the most leechers, and by the wait times are gone, there are no leechers..

Wait times can both be used as a test to determine new members commitment and to extort money.
Depends on the tracker and also how you view the situation I suppose.
I do agree that it can be unfairly penalizing people with less than stellar speeds.

If you know what a torrent is then wait times times are an annoying inconvenience.

If you have no idea what a torrent is, then wait times make you learn what a torrent is and what a tracker is all about, saves n00bs being penalised and prevents them just downloading everything they see and ensures they only download what they need.

Bottom line, if you are here at FST you know what a torrent is, so the weight of opinion will say wait times are a waste of our time, if you don't know what a torrent is you won't be reading this.

Wait times are bogus. My upload is severely throttled, so I rarely use sites with wait times. I always seed back what I leech, but unless it's a torrent with tons of leechers (aka. new torrents) it takes forever.

Wait times are gehy !

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Originally Posted by bubucea

It's a bad ideea !No reason...

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No i think its very good idea

wait times will be removed even if u are not PU or something like than,just keep good ratio and upload more than 10 GB or even more and wait times will be removed...

and its also good if someone have bad ratio ect ect..

so after all wait times are not the problem at all,if u are good user then u will only see it at the head:D

I think it's useful. It gives members time to read the rules and get familiar with the tracker.

I hate wait times, and will never have them on my tracker.

I just think they are counter productive on a closed private tracker (even on an open private tracker).

lets take bcg for example. we dont have wait times but lets say we did.

New user gets invited, new 360 game gets uploaded, in 12 hours its already got 1000 seeds and 1000 leechers.

we make them wait 36-72 hours before they can even download the thing.

the seed/leech ratio changes to 2000 seeds, 100 leechers.

Making it even harder for the new user to get a good ratio, because of the lack of leechers on the torrent and to many seeders.

Obviously we have the SP mod, so they will always get a 1 ratio regardless, as long as they stay on the torrent for awhile, but i still hate wait times with a passion.

I remember joining bitconsole, they had them for new users, i just thought, feck that and made my own tracker lol (some would have just went elsewhere, i actually created my own), i just hate them and they dont help the new user, or even a user with low ratio. if anything, it makes it twice as bad for them.

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Originally Posted by stoi

I hate wait times, and will never have them on my tracker.

I just think they are counter productive on a closed private tracker (even on an open private tracker).

lets take bcg for example. we dont have wait times but lets say we did.

New user gets invited, new 360 game gets uploaded, in 12 hours its already got 1000 seeds and 1000 leechers.

we make them wait 36-72 hours before they can even download the thing.

the seed/leech ratio changes to 2000 seeds, 100 leechers.

Making it even harder for the new user to get a good ratio, because of the lack of leechers on the torrent and to many seeders.

Obviously we have the SP mod, so they will always get a 1 ratio regardless, as long as they stay on the torrent for awhile, but i still hate wait times with a passion.

I remember joining bitconsole, they had them for new users, i just thought, feck that and made my own tracker lol (some would have just went elsewhere, i actually created my own), i just hate them and they dont help the new user, or even a user with low ratio. if anything, it makes it twice as bad for them.

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That's exactly what I've realized, so I'm glad at least one admin agrees with me. :D

It seems like wait times are the cause of people getting banned for low ratios, because they have to download something and now they are in a ratio hole they are unlikely to ever get out of in time.

And Sgt makes a valid point about the fact that some people don't really know what torrents are all about, which is the primary reason wait times are implemented mainly by rather open trackers.

well we let them download 4 torrents if they fall below a .4 ratio they cant download again, all they can do is seed what they have, once they get out of the mess they find themselves in, this gets lifted, but hopefully by then they have read the rules/faq.

But at least it lets them download something thats brand new and get a ratio on it if they put their mind to it, if all they are there for is to leech, then they dont last to long.

and btw a donation does not lift this.