Can a ratio be too high?
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That might sound like a silly question, but...
Over time, and some good internet connections, I've built up a share ratio of 6.6 on this site (much larger on some other sites), with a download buffer of 35 TB. I'm not likely to go to ratio jail any time in the next hundred years. (I'm not bragging about size. Mousing around the "active users" list on the home page shows members with ratios in the twenties.)
By definition, having a good ratio is a good thing. But I remember my early days on this site, trying hard to get my statistics above water, and now it occurs to me that every GB I upload is a GB that someone else isn't uploading--and maybe that someone else needs more upload opportunity to stay afloat. Members with struggling ratios might have a better chance if I throttled my upload a bit.
I'm curious about other members' views on this topic. There isn't a specific "right answer" here, which is perhaps what makes this interesting.
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Nothing I say here is to be construed as a site rule. It's purely my opinion as a person who's been doing this for a very long time.
My use of YOU, YOUR and YOU'RE is generic.
Having a "good" ratio is never a truly bad thing, except when you're harming other people's ability to get and/or maintain a decent ration. As an example, if you are uploading 100MB on a torrent that has 100 other seeders and only 1 leecher, you are harming every other seeder's ability to get a good ratio. Instead, turn off that torrent and put all your juice into other torrents that actually need your help.
Where possible, work on keeping old torrents alive, rather than slamming new torrents.
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@eobox91103 don't hold back on uploading, for one reason, you aren't really depriving other people of getting points.. because the instant they start downloading from the uploader or from another downloader, they begin seeding those packets and getting credit for them.
Personally, I wish people would refrain from posting anything that involves pain, simulated deaths, vaginas, scat, ancient porn, and porn featuring what I consider to be unattractive people. Also, I'm not fond of most solo stuff NOR orgies of more than 4 people.. nor videos with digitized genetalia nor videos where you never see a face.
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@lololulu19 said in Can a ratio be too high?:
Personally, I wish people would refrain from posting anything that involves pain, simulated deaths, vaginas, scat, ancient porn, and porn featuring what I consider to be unattractive people. Also, I'm not fond of most solo stuff NOR orgies of more than 4 people.. nor videos with digitized genetalia nor videos where you never see a face.
Uhhhhhhh.......
Taste the rainbow! Eat crayons!
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Personally, I wish people would refrain from posting anything that involves vaginas ...
EXCUSE ME ...
- You have an option to turn off str8 categories, and skip if you don't want to, each of us has different values an personalities ...
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@eobox91103 Mine stands at 4.457 ratio. I am not sure if I should be happy about it as @raphjd mentioned, there are still elements that harm my ability to grow here and get a better ratio but I am fairly satisfied as my goal is only a ratio of 1:1 per torrent that I upload. It's all what I get anyways for most of my torrent no matter how long I maintain it uploading in my torrent client. I am only able to achieve this ratio because I mainly stick with whatever catches my eye in Freeleech when I feel like adding more to my porn collection. From time to time of course I download regular torrents for the one that I really like to have.
I've been quiet lately, just busy with real life but I still try to catch up on uploads here and on the other GT where my main market is. I hope @raphjd that there will be some solutions laid out this year, especially on the one that pronounces visible hatred.
I am happy enough though that I still do get some encouragement from individuals who would send me a PM here or comment on my torrent posts. 
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@Rotron said in Can a ratio be too high?:
my goal is only a ratio of 1:1 per torrent that I upload
As a fine point, you'll always get a ratio of at least 1.0 with a torrent that you upload, because you have to send every piece of that file to somebody. I find that I usually have a ratio of 1.3 or so by the time my uploaded torrents are fully seeded, because some pieces will have been sent out to more than one member.
I still do get some encouragement from individuals who would send me a PM here or comment on my torrent posts
I'm happy to hear this. A written comment on a torrent post is so much more rewarding than clicking "thank you" on the torrent page. Even if that doesn't happen, I take satisfaction in seeing how many people have downloaded the material. I hope you are able to take satisfaction in this and know that your contributions to the site are appreciated.
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@eobox91103 You wanted opinions. For most people, any ratio above 2 is prob a hoarding disorder.
Exception could be if someone runs a large, unattended server for weeks at a time while they ignore it.
But 2 is well out of the danger zone and an intermittent, ordinary user worrying about their ratio beyond 2 needs to get out more.
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@eobox91103 P.S. Every bit added to your ratio IS DEFINITELY taken from others. Embrace it. Go "hahaha it's awesome to scoop this up, while others struggle!" Or else, as mentioned earlier, stop doing it - hit the gym or whatever.
The "ratio game" is zero-sum - except the part where you use your seed points to freeleech-out stuff. That enlarges the pie, while doubling as a way to preserve worthwhile "old torrents".
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I think the real answer is that "it depends." If the bulk of your high ratio is coming from your own uploads, that isn't a problem, in my opinion. You're supplying the content; you're entitled to the ratio boost that comes with it.
If your ratio is coming from seeding torrents where you're the only one, that, too, isn't a problem. I'm currently seeding a large collection that has been around for months, and that everyone else has abandoned. It's still getting an occasional leecher, and it's given me a nearly 1 TB boost to my upload stats. If I weren't seeding it, the content wouldn't be available.
That said, this has been a thought-provoking discussion, and I'm going to be a bit more cautious about how often, and how long, I seed going forward. I think I got a little over-cautious because of early ratio problems caused by downloading a large collection in my first few weeks on the site. I like knowing that I can download such a collection now and still maintain a good ratio, but I might, just might, have carried that a bit too far.
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@NF16 Oh that's fair. If you are the only one serving a torrent, then your upload isn't stolen from others.
Still - if it's worthwhile, a nicely done package or something worth seeing - why not freeleech it out?
I recently found an awesome (I think) torrent that had only one seeder left (not me), spent hundreds of points to freeleech it out, it now has many dozens of hosts. Fun.
I did scoop up a few GB of the re-upload but hey I spent the points.
I sometimes wish for a way to "reverse trade" my needlessly high ratio for more seed points.
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As long as you've got a decent download buffer there's no point in trying out for the Olympic seeding team. Obviously seed stuff that needs seeding, but people shouldn't be competing for the sake of it.
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@frostycab Competing might be the wrong word. They shouldn't be seeding for sake of bragging rights might be a better way to look at it.
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For most people, any ratio above 2 is prob a hoarding disorder.
NOPE ... this is false ...
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We share more and post content, because we have a lot of material sources/resources to share,
rather or instead of downloading content material shared by others here ... -
It is our goal achievement to get awarded by/from the system ratio to build our upload buffer because we share ...
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And we deserve to earn something ...
W/o sharing material, its pointless because there are no source of incoming material ... -
Others are getting hurt/hit notaware of ratio impact,
because they take advantage of getting/taking advantage of large amount of data,
w/o sharing and not building of buffer first ... -
That consider as hit and run activities and begging help attention after ...
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@eobox91103 not necessarily.. it is possible to get 0 download credits if somehow the file you uploaded magically appears on the site without anybody downloading it from you. It happens more often than you might imagine.
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@frostycab .. yeah my thoughts exactly. this guy
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@john32123666 Your response being detailed & defensive kinda supports my point. Put down the keyboard, zip up your pants, walk out, breathe the free air.
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@eobox91103 I generally agree with all of the above posts. Additionally, one consideration may be that over time image/video quality, and therefore, file sizes, will increase, so having more of a download buffer is hedging for the longer term.
