Thread: Is it bad to have too many seeds?

Hello folks. I'm a bit new to the Bittorrent game; even though I've been a user for about two years, I've only done so casually and have never quite taken the time to learn the ins and outs of things.

One question I have though is this: Is there such a thing as having too many seeds? Is that a bad thing? To be honest, I've got a killer internet connection here speed is no worry. I'm just scared that maybe the ISP or the authorities would notice more if I had more torrents I was seeding. I'm just paranoid I guess. But speedwise, heck I can have a ton of crap seeding and it won't do squat.



So is it bad to have too many seeds or should I just quit worrying so damn much? Thanks!

Generally speaking, it depends on which perspective you're looking at it from.

If you're someone who's just about to download a torrent, having too many seeds is never a bad thing. That ensures plenty of sources to get your file from, somehow ensuring that you'll get the most out of your connection as well.

If you're someone who's getting a torrent for the purpose of seeding it back and increasing your ratio/buffers, then having too many seeds might not be advantageous.

In your case, it really depends on your ISP. Try to google some cases if users have ever been "arrested" for torrenting on your ISP. If not, you shouldn't worry at all, and just keep sharing through seeding! :)

Thanks for the quick reply Vogue. Like I said, I'm a bit new to the enthusiast scene so I'm trying to pick up a little on things. Ratio was one of them and I was just wondering if there could be too much of a good thing (ie:seeds). Thanks again!

Originally Posted by Vogue

In your case, it really depends on your ISP. Try to google some cases if users have ever been "arrested" for torrenting on your ISP. If not, you shouldn't worry at all, and just keep sharing through seeding! :)

Ummmmmm..... uh-oh Oreos.

Cox Disconnects Alleged Pirates from the Internet | TorrentFreak
http://torrentfreak.com/cox-suckers-...wdowns-090128/

In other words, just google "cox torrenting". As soon as I saw this, I learned about how to encrypt my Bittorrent. If Cox found out and notified us (my parents), I would be DEAD. Would encrypting help?

Yeh, choose to always force incript and DONT seed from the piratebay!
The majority of people that get caught involves thepiratebay.
Have allot of seeds from off brand trackers, where they normally won't be uploading. Archiving torrents like that is a really nice thing to do!

Like im seeding 134 torrents on my home connection, yet collectivity there only uploading at 8kb/s. Occasionally it'll jump up when someone wants a older torrent that i am seeding.
(i put new torrents on my seedbox, if you are really worried just get a cheap seedbox)

"in fact have a 3 strikes policy"
It's 3 strikes so you dont have that much to worry about
As P2P said stay away from the pirate bay, every article i read about people getting sued involves the piratebay...

Originally Posted by Pbottle1

Is there such a thing as having too many seeds? Is that a bad thing? I'm just scared that maybe the ISP or the authorities would notice more if I had more torrents I was seeding. I'm just paranoid I guess.

So is it bad to have too many seeds or should I just quit worrying so damn much? Thanks!

Yeah, stop worrying so much. And stop using indexers like the pirate bay (I saw your intro). Stay away from public sites and stick with the private ones. Now that you're here you'll have plenty of opportunities to get into the private sites I speak of.

As far as having too many seeds, this is a good and a bad thing. As a leecher, many seeds are good for torrent retention, or how long a torrent stays alive, and great for the overall health of the torrent. But in some cases it can be bad for the less than fortunate trying to seed back 1 to 1. Those with poor connections have to struggle with seeding back what they leech and hurts even more when they have to compete with seeders who have faster connections. Some people have fantastic speeds or seed from seedboxes and have more than enough ratio per torrent that they could simply stop seeding, but they don't. Ratio whores are both good and bad.

Originally Posted by captiannick

Yeh, choose to always force incript and DONT seed from the piratebay!
The majority of people that get caught involves thepiratebay.
Have allot of seeds from off brand trackers, where they normally won't be uploading. Archiving torrents like that is a really nice thing to do!
As P2P said stay away from the pirate bay, every article i read about people getting sued involves the piratebay...

Originally Posted by P2P_seeder

Yeah, stop worrying so much. And stop using indexers like the pirate bay (I saw your intro). Stay away from public sites and stick with the private ones. Now that you're here you'll have plenty of opportunities to get into the private sites I speak of.

I would have never known that. Thank you guys very much for informing me. Looks like I'll stick to the private trackers. I feel so foolish now.