I got a seedbox and i still cannot seed ! - Seeding tips

Introduction

So you got a seedbox! (Hopefully from us :) . You add a few torrents and you expect them to start seeding immediatelly once they are finished downloading. It may happen, but if you chose the torrents you added poorly, then probably you will be surprised!

You have to understand that the way the bittorrent protocol works, is not different if you own a seedbox or if you are using your home computer. The rules are the same for everyone and a seedbox does not do magic to get around these rules!

So why do i need a seedbox then ?

A seedbox is merely a tool, that will help you seed faster and will increase your ratio in no time, if you know how to take advantage of it. In order to accomplish this you need to understand how the bittorrent protocol works in order for you to choose the best torrents for you to seed

Why when the torrent is completed, my seeding speed drops drastically ?

This is how the Bittorrent Protocol works. Torrent clients always prefer to give data to other client that get data from. It is like "Give me something to give you back". So leechers always prefer exchanging data with other leechers, and connect to seeders, only when needed. This is why when you complete a torrent, and essentially you become a seeder, the seeding speed drops, because you are not selected from leechers in priority. Many people prefer to limit their download speed, just to be in the downloading state for longer times, in order to seed back in higher speed that the download speed.

Basic seeding techniques

There are basically 2 ways that you should use your seedbox for:

• Download everything on your seedbox, and keep everything seeding for a long time. You can then download to your home pc anything you need from your seedbox via ftp, and your seedbox will keep seeding indefinitely. This is the easiest way to use a seedbox, however the real benefits of it will be shown to you after a period of time. That period of time depends, but it may be up to 1 month. This happens because some torrents (especially the very popular ones that have many seeders and only a few leechers) need time to start seeding. However once they do, they will constantly seed, and give you the necessary buffer for you to download newer torrents.
• Download only selected torrents on your seedbox. These torrents are carefully selected that will seed A LOT, taking advantage of your seedbox's high upload speed in only short time. This method needs experience in order for you to understand which torrent you have to select.

How to select torrents

So how can someone distinguish good torrents that will seed a lot in short time ? The newest popular torrents, with a big file size are always the best selection. However timing is of the highest importance!

• Movies and TV (high definition) torrents of popular movies and tv series are a good choice, only if you add this torrent just as it has been released. At that time the seeders are not many, the leechers are a lot (because of the popularity) and if you have a high upload speed, you will seed a lot! Don't do the mistake to add a popular release, a few hours later, when it has thousands of seeders and only just 100 of leechers!
• Don't use any kind of packs! Movie packs, 0day packs, application packs etc! These are the worst choice you can make, You think that it has a lot of leechers, but in reality they don't, because most of these leechers shown, are seeders of partially downloaded data, that did not download the whole pack! So the probability of you to seed is no good.
• Keep your torrents running forever, and don't stop them. You never know when someone will come along and leech from you.
• Outside seeding can help: Download torrents from other trackers and seed them back on the tracker you are interested in building a ratio.
• 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.
• When selecting torrents, base your initial selections on a high number of leechers (the more, the better). However you should also take a look at the seeders, they need to be less than the leechers