To what extent you guys are talking about, I don't know. As someone who has downloaded a lot of stuff from various sites, I usually do not have an issue with my upload or download. I just joined here a few days ago, and seem to have just okay download, and almost dreadful upload. No clue why.
There are some mechanics, where if you have seeders with more bandwidth capabilities, they are almost always going to get the upload over the guy with a lesser connection. I guess that's just how the system works.
Makes me feel that one some sites the ratio system is flawed. Someone can always have their client going, but still have a low ratio.