From my experience, it's not really the number of leeches that gets you good ratio, it how soon you can get on a new torrent. This is because you will get a lot of people downloading it, but many will have very restricted upload or won't seed very long.

If you can be one of the first leeches on a new UFC for example, you will earn mad ratio, especially if you have a seedbox or high bandwidth connection.

That's why for new users like us, the "Today's Torrents" page is the most important. From my examination of it, it appears that torrents only stay on that page for 24 or 48 hours. If it's there, you know its very fresh, and if it only has a leech or two, but is a UFC or something else uber-popular, then you are in like Flynn!

Basically, starting out at a private tracker is not about building your collection, it is about building ratio, and the best way to do that is to have patience and not grab anything until something like the next UFC comes out, then START on a torrent like that, rather than grabbing the older stuff you want, THEN trying to build ratio.

It just won't work.

The very first torrent I downloaded here was a 4GB training DVD set that I didn't even want (although after I got it, it turned out to be good ) but I was the first leech on it, and I ended up building at least 15GB upload from it. A donation certainly helps in the early days, as I can attest, but its what you do those first few days that set you up for later.

Whatever you do, get it sorted now, otherwise you'll get so deep in the hole that you won't be able to dig your way out.

Yes well..

Why am I not surprised that post was already here? Everything about this tracker seems to make it perfect for noobs. Even the Today's Torrents page gives more information as to what is hot than any of the other private trackers I use, simply by having stuff stay there only for a day or so. And I've never seen a tracker that makes it so easy to find freeleech torrents, or is so liberal with what it makes freeleech.

Seriously, I'm not saying this just to kiss ass - if you can't make it here, you won't make it anywhere, I believe.

If I had one criticism of that post (slight as it is) is that it talked about the "health" of a torrent. Really, that is reversed, at least in regards to building ratio (as is pointed out later in the post) - what you really want is a torrent with lots of leeches and few seeds, and to be one of the first leeches, meaning that you may complete the download first, and thus get the benefit of the later leeches who joined downloading from you.

So what the tracker calls a "healthy" torrent, is actually "unhealthy" for the person trying to build ratio.

As I said though, that is pointed out later in the post, just maybe it could be a little clearer when it's being talked about.

Of course, I'm only saying that to save SOME face

Thank you for your kind words. And we can only get better with good members like we have here

All I can say is, it can't get much better!

In fact I can't really find anything to moan about

Dear any mod. I got an e-mail for a bad ratio and I'm trying here! I've had a lot of PC problems lately, but I'm back in business. Pleae don't drop the hammer, I love this place

Hey Jonny, I hear ya. Your ratio isnt looking good. Its not that bad but be careful. We dont personally change any profiles or disable any accounts, its all made by an automated system so please dont feel offended by the warnings etc, nothing personal at all and same rules for all. We also want the members that love the site to stay here off course!
A small donation or some uploads of some previously unuploaded material could sort your problems mate.

I know this is an old topic, but I had a friend asking me a similar question to this the other day, so thought I'd dig in the forums and see if there was a previous post about this rather than start a new thread. Found this one so figured I'd post a reply so that anyone else with the same type of question might see the responses here as they are all good.

Also, I always find that grabbing any and all NEW freeleach for anyone new to the site is a great way to build your ratio, you may not think it's something you want, but if you see it on the front page and it's freeleach, you should grab it as quickly as you can, because everyone else is going to be doing the same, and it doesn't count a thing toward your download, only your upload, so it's all win-win for the new members in my book! The mods and admins on this site are great about making several uploads a day freeleach so you always have some you can grab to help build that ratio quickly, and don't forget to check here http://foru.mma-torrents.com/viewtopic.php?f=87&t=1513 as well since it is a great place for some older events that are still actively downloaded.

Hope my 2 cents are worth something in helping out here

-Poincy

Thanks Poincy.

We indeed try to keep people happy by making some uploads freeleech and also try to give as much information as possible to people so they know what problems they might find on the way to happiness. This post was one of them, the guides are another. Also there are of course some extra services that can help people get a better ratio, such as dent's seedboxes or donations. We are not here to become rich and famous, nor to have power over people. We are here to serve a community we feel we can relate to and put our energy into. A smile on someones face is often more rewarding than a buck

In the end however it is basically the users that decide if they can stay by following our advice or not. It all comes down to seeding and not being too greedy by getting all files immediately. Share and we care, that makes our community fun and fair. I think that is a good motto for us all. The longer you seed files the easier it gets for users/seeders and also for us. Because dead torrents will be less, we can release more files and thus spare seedboxes for new uploads and members get better ratio's and seeded files.

And yes Poincy, your contribution to our site is highly appreciated on all levels