10 Tips and Tricks for Private BitTorrent Sites
The first thing to notice when you join a private BitTorrent site is the eye-popping quality of the torrents. Each one is carefully culled, hand-picked through a strict moderation process. However, before you start hammering away on that download link - here are a few things you need to know.
On private torrent sites, everything revolves around ratios. A 1:1 ratio (or 1.0) means that you’ve downloaded exactly the same amount of data as you’ve uploaded. Thus a 0.80 ratio indicates that you’ve uploaded less than you’ve downloaded, which is hurtful to the health of the torrent. Inversely, a 3.0 ratio means you’ve uploaded 3 times more data than you’ve downloaded. Strive to achieve at least a 1.0 ratio - each site will have specific consequences for members who maintain a ratio of less than this. Attain a ratio over 1.0 and the rewards shall follow you into the P2P afterlife.
If you’re brand-new to a private site, it will be difficult in the beginning to acquire a 1.0 ratio. Luckily, users are given a ‘grace’ period to achieve this. Since there are so many more seeds than leechers (a total flip-flop from public BT sites), it becomes harder to upload to others - due to the fact that there are fewer people to share with.
So why go through all the trouble to keep an honest ratio? Because deep down, you’re an upstanding denizen of file-sharing society! Aside from that shameless pat-on-the-back, good ratios offer many perks, including an upgraded account on the tracker (i.e. VIP status), higher download speeds, free “invites” for your friends, and no waiting periods associated with accounts in arrears.
Here are Ten Tips to get your ratio in top-shape as fast as possible:
1. Start out with Smaller Files
Initially, opt for smaller (i.e. under 1 GB) files for downloading. This gives you a greater chance of someone coming along after you and downloading the same torrent (and you’ll be able to upload to them). Obviously a 700MB movie file will be more appealing to other site members than a 30GB ‘Blu-Ray’ rip.
2. Jump on the ‘Newly Released’ torrents
This is a great tip for increasing your ratio in a hurry. Camp out in your favorite private BT site, and refresh the torrent listings frequently. Newly added entries will have many more leechers than seeds, so you’ll be able to share (upload) more data. To maximize this tip, select smaller files - the “TV Episode” category works great for this.
3. Select Files that have a High ‘L’ or upload number
This is important. When selecting torrents, base your initial selections on a high number of leechers (the more, the better). This will ensure you have many avenues to upload to during (and after) the transfer. When starting out on a new private BT site, we would even go so far as to say that you should download torrents that you don’t want - just start grabbing torrents that have lots of leechers. Once your ratio get over the 1:1 (1.0) mark, delete them.
TIP: If one of your seeding torrents remains popular, leave it running in µtorrent permanently. This will always help to boost your upload ratio.
4. Avoid ‘Zero-Leech’ torrents
When you’re new to a private site, steer clear of the ‘zero-leech’ torrents - it is impossible to increase your share ratio when there are no other downloaders. When viewing a list of torrents, look for the “Leecher” column (or just “L”) and avoid anything that has a zero ( “0″ ) in it. After your account ratio has become relatively stable, now is the time to snag whatever you want.
5. Leave some tasks running in uTorrent
After the completed download of a torrent, leave the task running (as a seed) in µtorrent to increase your upload statistics. Don’t delete (or move) the files of a running task! You can, however, extract (unRAR) the files, or copy the files from one place to the next. In the event of a movie/video file - you’ll be able to “burn” or “extract” the *.avi file (or even play it on the PC) without affecting the seeding torrent.
TIP: Always keep a few things running as ’seeds’ in your BT client. If you notice that they aren’t uploading, replace them with newer ones.
6. Go for the ‘Freebie’ downloads
Many private sites will offer “free” torrents that won’t count against your download statistics (thus, your ratio will remain unchanged). Grab these freebies - especially when searching for torrents on a new account.
7. Use ‘Credits’ to purchase…
A popular feature among superior private BitTorrent sites is the addition of a ‘credits’ feature for account holders. Credits can be used to ‘purchase’ VIP status, increased sharing ratios and other perks. Not all sites are the same, but some credits can be acquired just from staying active in their IRC channel, or from just having the torrents available for download in your BT client.
8. Do NOT try to ‘cheat’ the Private Trackers
There are a variety of ratio cheating tips available out there, but don’t be tempted. Trackers are fairly sophisticated and ever-evolving. If you get caught cheating, you won’t even be warned - it’s a permanent ban for you and bye-bye for good.
9. Set a proper Upload Limit
Setting a proper upload limit in the BT client makes all the difference! You’ll want to supply a high enough limit to maximize uploading, but not have it eat into your download bandwidth. The general rule is to set it at 80 - 85% of your upload limit. To figure this out, visit www.speedtest.net and conduct the simple test. Results are shown in kilobits, so divide the result by 1/8 and then multiply that by 0.85. This will give you the proper number in KB/s (KiloBytes).
In µtorrent, go to OPTIONS > Preferences… > Connection and enter your upload rate. Click “Apply” and then “OK” to save the changes. While your in that same ’settings’ page, make sure to use a port number from the good list (e.g. 49152 - 65535).
10. And if all else fails…donate
Most sites allow for monetary contributions to keep up with the server costs. If you enjoy a particular site immensely but cannot seem to be able to approach a decent sharing ratio (due to turning off your computer at night, going to work, or sharing your computer with your kids, wife, husband or siblings), think about donating. In most cases even a not-so-generous gratuity will robustly affect your account status - plus you’ll feel good about helping out the BitTorrent community.
Other Tips - Follow ‘The Rules’
Yeah, we know: you hate rules! That’s why you probably moved out of your parents’ basement. Rules are probably why some turned to P2P.
Nevertheless, rules are an important aspect to private BT sites - they ensure healthy torrents and blazing-fast download speeds for all. Each site will have their “rules” posted - the link is usually not hard to find. Below are some general rules / tips that pertain to any private BitTorrent site:
Use an ‘Accepted’ BitTorrent client
Not all private trackers are the same - and each one has different rules in regards to which BitTorrent client is on the “allowable” list. Most sites recommend µtorrent, but only specific versions (or builds) of it. If you stick with v1.6.1 or the latest version v1.7.7 (recommended), you can’t go wrong with ANY private site (avoid any versions in between these numbers). And do not use BitComet on private trackers.
Proper BitTorrent client configuration:
Many trackers recommend that you disable DHT and Peer Exchange (PEX) in your BT client’s settings. To do this in µtorrent, go to OPTIONS > Preferences… > and select the BitTorrent tab. Remove the three checkmarks that pertain to DHT and PEX (see image below):
Do not ‘Hit & Run’ a Private BT site:
A ‘Hit & Run’ (or H&R) is when someone joins a private tracker, and downloads as much as they can before making off without uploading to a proper ratio. While this practice is frowned upon even on public sites such as mininova.org, it is deplorable to private sites. This can (and sometimes will) lead to your IP address being banned from the site - forever.
Stick within these guidelines for HAPPY Torrenting!
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198 Responses (Add yours or TrackBack)
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[quote comment="317804"]This isn’t grammar school you n00bs.[/quote]
Well, it should be. No one is going to give your opinions much weight or even thought if one has to wade through an ocean of spelling and grammar mistakes.
There’s quite a few here that need a good solid rap to the knuckles with the ruler. Now use your head for more than a hat rack and tighten up your postings.
Class dismissed. :P
educational, reading this…
only just now began to understand the torrent thing, all I wanted was the last episodes of startgate sg1…download to azer. 76%, wouldnt play on any player, ’sorry windows media, (etc.) has experienced a problem and has to close…’
using satellite, limited to the amount i can use. slow upload, don’t even know how to…so by the time I download, even if it worked, which it didn’t, and I upload enough to ‘pay back’ I’ve come close to using my limit, given that I use my pc for other things also…
Guess my point is, torrent just isnt gonna work for me?, I wonder how many others are in the same boat? And I wonder if a library could be established amoung many pprivate sites, a central repository, so that those with fast speeds and a large collection and time and generosity could contribute, just for all the pcmorons like myself, and the leetches.
and, where is a tutorial? is there a way to compress a show so it wouldnt use so much bandwidth? and how to do it? I have access to many channels, no equipment or knowledge, but I have no problem with uploading when I have the time, if it doesnt use much of my monthly allocation.
long post, just a real newbie… a link to how where with who…
stumbled on this place from a lead in diggs…thanks.
Actually if anyone is going to take you seriously, you need to stop acting as if you are better than everyone else. If you want to educate people about their grammar become a teacher. But you most likely don’t have the social skills to step outside of your basement to make strides in life, that’s why you feel the need to fulfil your aspirations on the internet. How sad, I feel extremely sorry for you.
Hay Stuffies, is that 1 invite still going?
Can i give it a try.
My email is jamin990@fsmail.net
Cheers
[quote comment="317733"]Rekrul:
Because those are the people who take the risk. you don’t get busted for downloading, you get busted for letting people download from you.
[/quote]
True, however with most P2P clients, it’s not possible to download without uploading as well. Even if you only have a small portion of the file, you’re still listed as one of the sources for that file and that’s enough to get you busted for distribution of copyrighted material.
[quote comment="317800"]
They don’t mean leechers as in people downloading the file. When people say “leechers suck”, they mean people who download and don’t seed back.[/quote]
Maybe so, but there have been many times that I have seen “peers” (people who don’t have a complete copy of the file) referred to as “leeches”.
Most torrents from MovieX give me the error message “Leeching forbidden! You are only allowed to seed.”
[quote comment="317733"]Rekrul:
Because those are the people who take the risk. you don’t get busted for downloading, you get busted for letting people download from you.
[/quote]
True, however with most P2P clients, it’s not possible to download without uploading as well. Even if you only have a small portion of the file, you’re still listed as one of the sources for that file and that’s enough to get you busted for distribution of copyrighted material.
[quote comment="317800"]
They don’t mean leechers as in people downloading the file. When people say “leechers suck”, they mean people who download and don’t seed back.[/quote]
Maybe so, but there have been many times that I have seen “peers” (people who don’t have a complete copy of the file) referred to as “leeches”.
Most torrents from MovieX give me the error message “Leeching forbidden! You are only allowed to seed.”
I’d love a feedthe.net or waffle invite. ~300gigs of shit on extra drives ready to be seeded 24/7 on a dedicated box.
menekali@gmail.com
let me know!
It’s simple - of course not everyone can have 1.0 or better ratio, but that’s no reason why not aim for it. If you get there - great, if you fall a little short (0.8 for example) - still good, if you’re lagging way behind (0.1) - stop downloading and spend some time uploading. 1.0 is a very good goal in the beginning as it’s easily reachable and teaches the user to hold the balance between seeding and leeching, it’s way harder once you’ve downloaded 300+ gigs.
Personally I have nothing against public trackers, but let’s face it - it’s no fun to upload to them. You make a torrent and start seeding, what’ll you get after sitting on the torrent for a week? Eighter 100+ leechers while you’re still the only seeder or (and that’s even worse) 2-3 seeders beside you with several dozen downloaders, while the torrent has been snatched like 20 times. The ratio system on private sites *motivates*, those downloading have a reason to seed back, the only thing keeping people seeding on public places is their concious which, obviosly, ain’t making too much noise by such a thing as pirated movies ;)
I was never a fan of private sites/tracker such as moviex.info, i allways remove theyr track from my torrents and add the public ones, if they want a private tracker then they should release theyr own torrents and share themselfs, i think that is kind of stupid for people that are not registered there to be forced to seed to the registered ones and never get the download done.
Sometimes the torrent just sits there seeding forever and never finishes downloading, until some saint seeder decides to stay as long as we need to complete.
Look here all you people who suck at the Internet- Using torrents is frowned upon among ’sceners’ and release groups; and release groups, by the way, are the friggin’ Internet Gods who disseminate most of the ripped/cracked/hacked stuff that you all enjoy so well. Release groups cannot stand torrent sites because they draw attention to ‘the scene’ and this attention is what causes law suits, investigations from tumbling dick-mouths like the RIAA; and, ultimately, this attention leads to less of what we all want to DL (episodes of Golden Girls, etc…).
And so, in conclusion, Bittorrent licks the underside of my taint. So what should you use? Youse guys shoue use USENET!!!!! Usenet Usenet Usenet. Legal systems worldwide can barely touch Usenet.
Sweet Dreams,
Pat McCrotch
[quote comment="317597"][quote comment="317569"]Torrentleech = Pay 2 Leech scum site.
https://feedthe.net//quote
is that supposed to be ironic? ratio is easier to come by on TL than FTN…
Gallus[/quote]
Obviously you haven’t been on FTN in a while, or you would know that ratio hasn’t existed there for quite a while. And all the people asking for an invite can keep asking, because invites have been closed down since the beginning of the year.
Actually, it is hypothetically possible that everyone on a site has a 1.0 ratio, because the accounts of pure leechers are constantly being pruned. Thus, those with extremely low ratios are removed from the site and everybody else can have 1.0. Sure this is only hypothetical, but it still makes it fairly easy to keep a decent ratio when you realize that there are always noobs who don’t know how to keep a decent ratio.
dummies, just buy your axx from a scener
http://axxo-release.blogspot.com/
…so divide the result by 1/8 …
No. To get the kilobytes from the kilobits you should divide by 8. Or alternatively multiply the result by 1/8.
help pay Troys mortgage! donate to bmtv!
[quote comment="317091"]Azureus is by far one of the best clients out there, and even on public torrents I get in excess of 600kbps.[/quote]
Azureus is slower to start up the swarm, therefor much slower when it comes to small torrents (such as music), and is horrible when it comes to memory utilization.
It also corrupted my RAID driver.
I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
check this out
http://radonadi.blogspot.com
Or sometimes download newly released torrents from public trackers and add the private tracker url to the finished torrent. This way you get your upload stats but you’ve downloaded from a public one. I use this most of the time with new torrents.
Tip 11. Don’t be the kid in the candy store when you get on a private tracker.
Really FTN and SCT Sucks
Pay2leech trackers.
but for real, FTN really sucks. Pre time sucks also, not reasonable. LoL
I don’t feel like reading through all the comments to see whether or not someone mentioned it, but all the private sites I know of will change the settings on all uploaded torrents to enable the private flag. Because of this, it doesn’t matter whether or not you remove the PEX, DHT, etc. settings in your client. These should be kept enabled so that they may be used with public sites.
What others have mentioned is right… partial seeding will really help your ratio.
BE CAUTIOUS IN THE BEGINNING UNTIL YOU BUILD A GOOD BUFFER.
[quote comment="317930"]what’ll you get after sitting on the torrent for a week? Eighter 100+ leechers while you’re still the only seeder or (and that’s even worse) 2-3 seeders beside you with several dozen downloaders[/quote]
Usually it’s better than this. For established torrents S:L ratio is about 1:10, which is more than enough if you remember that leechers aren’t all at 0%, so most of them can upload as well.
The ratio system on private sites *motivates*, those downloading have a reason to seed back, the only thing keeping people seeding on public places is their concious which, obviosly, ain’t making too much noise by such a thing as pirated movies ;)[/quote]
I’m sorry but practice shows otherwise. That’s my torrent on TPB:
http://thepiratebay.org/tor/4014340/Apocalypto.2006.720p.BluRay.x264-ESiR
Why doesn’t it die? Why there’s always 1:10 S:L whenever I check it? What am I doing wrong? :-)
[quote comment="317982"]those with extremely low ratios are removed from the site … fairly easy to keep a decent ratio when you realize that there are always noobs who don’t know how to keep a decent ratio.[/quote]
It’s double standard isn’t it? :-) You use them when you need them for your ratio but you spit on them because they’re oh-so-horrible-leechers.
When the community will finally understand that it’s leechers who keep the whole thing running, the world will become a slightly better place. :-)
mane tai uzpisa tas lietuviskas trakeris bet ka padarysi
[quote comment="318285"]Really FTN and SCT Sucks
Pay2leech trackers.
but for real, FTN really sucks. Pre time sucks also, not reasonable. LoL[/quote]
LMAO!
Just STFU you stupid n00b. Go back to Torrentleech aka pay 2 leech scum site.
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