Thread: How to Fix/Improve your Ratio and Maintain it

Ok, so you've got your tracker, you’ve searched and found the files you wanted… Well of course you downloaded them, right? I know the first thing I do when getting a new tracker , I head straight to the browse and search for something I want. For one, I want to test the download speeds and B I want to download something.
F4t3L 3rr0r…

You have now found yourself with a worthless torrent, perhaps the only one on the tracker that you are interested in and no one else will download from you for a month, your ratio is now in the red. So what can you do?
Well, if you are reading this before you make the mistake, then good for you, way to exercise patients.


Before (you download… anything)

Packs
First and Foremost… DON”T DOWNLOAD A PACK… No matter how long you have been waiting for that brand new, well-put-together pack of Star Wars, Don’t do it… Wait longer.
Strategies’
When you get a new tracker, take some time and look around, don’t be in such a rush to get-get-get. Most trackers have a sorting system so use it. See which files are being downloaded and which ones are hot.

TV Episodes
TV Episodes have to be one of the best way to increase your ratio, depending on which show you are sure to upload upto 5 times as much as you downloaded. When you come across a file such as Fringe S04E07 do a quick search for Fringe S04E06 and see how many times it was leeched. For the most part, if an earlier episode did well, then the next one will do well also.

Use the sorting system to see what files are being downloaded and notice their size (in the beginning smaller is better), work your way up the ladder. Download a file even if it not something you are interested in, if it is a file that others are downloading, you will reap the rewards of uploading and make it so that you will then be able to download with no hurt to your ratio.

FREELEECH (can I say that one more time, FreeLeech)
Not much to explain here, it is a free download (no cost to your ratio) and everything that you upload helps your ratio.

Cross-Seeding
Find popular files on your tracker and then search for them on public trackers. When you find the same EXACT file, download the torrent to you seedbox or computer , then download the .torrent file from your tracker and open it in your Torrent client, it will show “Checking”, watch it to make sure if finishes checking and doesn’t start downloading, if it starts downloading then you have not downloaded the same EXACT file and you will need to try harder next time.





After (you downloaded everything)

So it’s too late huh, you didn’t want to wait and decided to ruin your ratio, now you are worried because you didn’t just join an open tracker, no, you got an invite and someones reputation is on the line, or even worse, the possibility that not only you might lose your account, but your inviter might lose theirs. There is a lot a stake here.

At this point you have a few options:

Donate
Most trackers allow you to fix this mistake by donation money, your money, to their site. Donating by itself has its benefits, but it’s never fun when you are trying to buy your way out of the hole you dug. Still, this is a method that you can choose, remember, the person who invited you shouldn’t have to suffer because you couldn’t help yourself. J

Seedbox’s
There are so many reason to have one; I don’t even know where to begin. However, in this case a seedbox will give you great upload speeds and in most cases should bring your ratio back up within a few days (depending on what you have to seed) Refer to TV Episodes and Cross-seeding above. Sometimes you have to hurt your ratio a little more to improve it.

Or you can continue to upload what you’ve downloaded and hope that someone will come along, however remember that you are still sharing that upload with all the other seeds, so chances are you will need quite a few someone’s to come along.



Maintain Your Ratio
Once you have a good ratio again, maintain it! Don’t hit n run, seed it back till 1:1 (upload size is equal to download size) and if you can, seed it longer, not just for your ratio’s sake but for the sake of the next leecher that would like to enjoy the file as well. Remember, TV Episodes, they are the way to go!

Recap:
Get your invite
Download files that are being leeched
Get a seedbox
Maintain good ratio
Donate your money
Enjoy your tracker


Well, I know from my own experience that these methods work; after being a member of an exclusive (hard-to-seed) tracker for 7 weeks, I just today reached the Upload 1 TB mark. I hope that this will help you also.

Simpel and easy tutorial to follow.
This is common knowledge to something. But it's good to have it all together in one thread. A good reminder and a good post from of a new forum member. Thumps up mate.

Yeah, when I decided to do this tutorial I had searched and didn't find any others. After posting it, I noticed that I had posted it in the wrong subforum, when I got to this section I found all the other tutorials like this. :P

That's ok though, Thanks for the Like. :)

i got a few pointers myself from this simple yet elegant tutorial.

As someone said "common sense is not that common" same goes for common knowledge lol

cheers and keep up the good work mate.

Wow, he earns my respect on this one! Though, through my experiences with trackers, all of those tips described above make up most of my game plan; perhaps many others as well. It's nice to read my own MO-- lol! On a serious note, you cannot go wrong with these tips!

Lastly, like described above, donating is a quick cure-all. I mean, c-mon, what the hell is 5 or 10 dollars or so? As for the seedbox? You'll rape the upload game.

Mad propz on the post, bro!

Great tutorial! I thought I had figured out all the "strategies", but I learned a few new things from this post. I wish I had read it when I was new to private trackers.

You helped me a lot with this tutorial..especially with the pack thing xD

Thank you very much :)

k you very much . simple things but we all often choose to forget them..

Nice tutorial! I know I had this happen to me once upon a time, and it was a pain trying to get back to a respectable ratio. All new tracker users should read this tutorial!