Thread: How to watch out for ratio cheating?

Alright, so I'm apparently more of a n00b than I'd even realized because I didn't know until today that it was possible to cheat on your ratio. (Yes really, I swear!) So now I'm trying to figure out more (and make sure I don't screw myself over with my n00bish-ness).

Is there anything I could unintentionally be doing to cheat? I saw in the forums to be really careful with cross-seeding, but otherwise it seems like I would have to be intentionally working (like, have a program or something) to cheat. Is that true?

Also, is there anything I should be watching for with others (and particularly future potential invitees) to make sure they are not ratio cheating? Or is it safe to assume that the trackers are catching people and that I don't need to worry about others?

I'm just really curious (and slightly paranoid) now. Thanks for your help!

Cross seeding is safe, as long as you do it right. Never add a tracker to a torrent in your client, aways add a diferent torrent for each tracker, also remember to disable DHT and local peer discovering.
If you do this, cross seeding is safe.
Every tracker has it own way to spot cheatrs, sometimes they are wrong and ban inocent users, if this occur, contact the staff via IRC and explain your situation and i'm sure they will re-enable you.
Cheaters aren't the unique ones you need to watch for, there are traders and scammers, to protect yourself is good to check the users posts, see his reputaion and do a little research with his data to see if he is a trader or a scammer, never give an invite without doing it or you may be banned as well.

Take a look at this threads, it is all explained in details:
http://www.torrent-invites.com/tutor...r-cheater.html
http://www.torrent-invites.com/intro...ing-icons.html
http://www.torrent-invites.com/tutor...-torrents.html
http://www.torrent-invites.com/tutor...ed-safely.html

It's kind of impossible to cheat unintentionally if you have DHT and LPD disabled like Fractal said. Nothin to worry about m8

The only way i know how to spot a cheater, is to watch the persons ratio and compare it to his/hers speedtest (if you recently invited someone and got his user link). If the user uploads much faster than what the speedtest claims, u found yourself a cheater!
I used to monitor ppl like this back in the day when i got my first TL invites and invited online friends.

Originally Posted by Fractal

also remember to disable DHT and local peer discovering.

Along with DHT and LPD, you should disable PEX (peer exchange) as well. Also, ensure your client is on the trackers white list. Almost always clients in alpha or beta versions aren't allowed. I don't know if this will make you look like a cheat but, don't leech from more than one location at a time.

Is there any danger if you seed or cross seeding even from a shared seedbox that has a shared IP ?
Is there a chance to have problems with the shared IP and be accused for ratio cheating ?

Originally Posted by tel1os666

Is there any danger if you seed or cross seeding even from a shared seedbox that has a shared IP ?
Is there a chance to have problems with the shared IP and be accused for ratio cheating ?

No you won't be accused for ratio cheating but for Dupe accounts since the Seedbox will be using same ip as the other users are using and if they are on the same tracker as you the tracker will see it as 2 Accounts on 1 IP means a dupe account ..

Always notify trackers about this .. that you are using a shared seedbox or simply mention it in profile..

and yes it will be considered ratio cheating if the client you are using to log on your box ie. the login pass is the one other users are using and upload the same torrents on the box and two passkeys get added in one torrent then yes its considered ratio cheating as only one guys stats would be updated and the other's wont be ...


i hope you understand it :)

Originally Posted by oki

Along with DHT and LPD, you should disable PEX (peer exchange) as well. Also, ensure your client is on the trackers white list. Almost always clients in alpha or beta versions aren't allowed. I don't know if this will make you look like a cheat but, don't leech from more than one location at a time.

what is the reason to disable all of those?

To simplify, they allow peers who are not from the tracker to conect to you, so the tracker can't get proper information on your stats.

look here:
http://www.torrent-invites.com/tutor...ht-update.html

Originally Posted by rajkvun

The only way i know how to spot a cheater, is to watch the persons ratio and compare it to his/hers speedtest (if you recently invited someone and got his user link). If the user uploads much faster than what the speedtest claims, u found yourself a cheater!
I used to monitor ppl like this back in the day when i got my first TL invites and invited online friends.

This doesn't necessarily prove that a user is cheating. The user could be using a seed box which usually explains the huge difference in upload speeds.

Now granted there are times when it's beyond obvious that not even a seed box is capable of such speeds, however these are the ones that are caught immediately by trackers anyways.

Unless you specifically ask a user on here before giving the invite if they have a seed box you have no way of knowing.

So long as you follow up on the disabling of DHT and such as well as being sure to cross seed properly you will have no issues what so ever. Also as oki pointed out be sure to use a client that is on the whitelist. One major issue with the clients that some seem to neglect is that they are usually set to auto-update the client when a new one is out. I myself along with others I would imagine disable the auto-update features. Never upgrade to a newer version until you know it's been cleared through the trackers you are currently on.