Anyone can make a torrent freeleech if they have enough SBP to do it. Then there is me. I go about the site randomly and start doing mini freeleech marathons. There are a few general criteria that I use to decide what torrents are used.
On the most part, the torrent must be at least 4 or 5 months old, and it must have fewer than 10 seeders. This however is not an absolute, as I make the decision on a case by case basis for each torrent. Although torrents must be at least 7 days old to be made freeleech, there is a roundabout way for staff to get around this. If we put a freeleech on the torrent, THEN promote it to the top of the list, it will appear as a "new" freeleech torrent. Generally, when this is done, it is a 156 hour freeleech, but not always. This is usually done to revive a dead or dying torrent.