Thread: Beginner question on bitorrent vocabulary

Let's say there is a 500MB torrent on a specific tracker that consists of 2 parts.
Part A is 300GB
Part B is 200 GB

Let's say i don't care about Part A and I only download Part B.
After having downloaded Part B fully, i leave it on my client so that others can upload it (only Part B obviously) from me.
In that case what do you call me?
I am not a seeder because I haven't downloaded the whole file. Right?
On the other hand, I am not a leecher either as I am not downloading further (in this case, Part A).

So where would i be categorized on the torrents info on the tracker, which shows its seeders and leechers?



Also, would I be considered to have "snatched" the torrent? Or snatching the torrent means having downloaded both parts of it fully?

In the case that I already had Part A on my hard drive, then after downloading Part B, I would be a seeder, right? But would have I "snatched" the torrent. I guess not, right?

I would really appreciate it if someone could answer my questions one-by-one in a clear way, as I want to get everything straightened out.

Many thanks in advance.

---------- Post added at 11:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:12 AM ----------

I thought "snatches meant full downloads of a torrent.

However i run into a scenario in a private tracker of mine whereby for a specific torrent size 500MB it said 20 snatches which according to my thinking would mean
Total upload = torrent size * number of snatches = 500 MB * 20 = 10 GB

However, the total upload for the torrent was actually about 8.7 GB

So what's going on here?

That's called partial seeding. You'll show up as a leecher though in the tracker's software/website, as your progress is less than 100% complete.

This messes up the tracking system of some sites. BTN for example (I believe) will not count you as a seeder until everything is downloaded. This prevents you from seeding back the torrent within the time frame, and may earn you an HNR. You would never have snatched the torrent, either. I'm pretty sure the rules at BTN forbid partial seeding like this.

Some places (PTM I believe) count the download of the .torrent file as a snatch. I think this part gets more muddied in definition.

EDIT: For your questions that you asked in your edit--

I'm guessing you are talking about BTN? In that case, when you upload a file to BTN, every single full download of that file is tracked to you and gives you an upload snatch. It doesn't matter that your server didn't transfer all the data, just that someone did.

I uploaded a file sometime this week and although my ratio in my SB was 2.1, I had received 50+ credited 'snatches'.