what.cd's new ratio watch policy: discuss!

[jamesbanned]

the short answer is that there will be no more disables for failing ratio watch; leeching privileges will be suspended instead.

i honestly do not believe that it will have much of an effect on what we experienced cheaters do in order to maintain our more prized 1:1 ratios (still required for the user class transitions and associated perks ), but what do you think the users who struggle the most will get out of this? is it radical enough to stimulate guilt-free leeching by people on bad connections? should what.cd just become ratioless already? do you just want to stop playing these games and download some damn music already?

1) i believe that it will encourage more leeching, which will then be paid forward to everyone else. however, i do not believe that it will suddenly transform the site into a well-oiled leeching facility, because people will still be conscious of their ratios. this still enforces a hierarchy upon users, because there is much to be gained by achieving a higher user class (invites for one). this is quite unfair to those who have bad connections.

2) i am not too familiar with ratioless trackers, but what.cd is focused on seeding large numbers of torrents long term; this is apparently not a characteristic of all ratioless trackers. however, is it not better to get members what they want, right now, as opposed to building a collection that is inaccessible to most people? also, people with bad connections would not have to reach "1:1" in order to reach a higher user class. i can see flaws with that plan, but what.cd is quite built up already, so maybe it could work...?

i will continue to cheat, regardless, but that is because i am good at not getting caught (and it saves me money each month). but what about the guy who is just starting out, and gets a ban because he is desperate to achieve PU? if we are thinking long term, what is best for sb-i users, and what is best for all users?

discuss, please.

(this post was partly inspired by nperversion's last thread and its associated discussion)

[Mihai]

Well if they would become ratio free this will surelly increase the leechers number and everybody would enjoy music because they will not have to watch their ratio every hour.They say they have the biggest colection of music.Yes they do.But can users enjoy it?No they don't.This is the problem.

[anon]

From a non-cheating perspective:

but what do you think the users who struggle the most will get out of this?

It's a nice move. Instead of disabling you after giving you a deadline to improve your ratio, they're nice enough to automatically prevent your situation from getting worse (because that's how you got a low ratio - downloading), while you have as much time as you want to reseed what you've snatched, or take the most efficient measure to move data up - uploading your own material.

is it radical enough to stimulate guilt-free leeching by people on bad connections?

Perhaps users will relax a bit since their ultimate fate for not being able to keep a good ratio won't end up with disablement, but otherwise, not really. You still have to upload to keep on being able to leech. And you can't rely on your snatches to magically begin seeding. Also, if you want to upload your own torrents, it takes a certain amount of effort to set up every EAC and LAME/FLAC option correctly if you don't want your torrent to be gone along your uploading privileges. Of course you can upload audio/e-books, apps and comics, but unless you have a huge comic pack within reach, it's music (specially lossless) that will get you the most credit.

should what.cd just become ratioless already?

No. An important aspect of every music tracker is ensuring good retention over time. Being so hard to seed is a way to achieve it - when everyone is struggling to keep a good ratio, they'll leave their client seeding as much time as possible in an effort to upload. On a ratio-free scheme, you'd have to rely on your users not stopping or deleting the torrent after the required seed time has passed, because they didn't like the album or want to burn it due to disk space constraints, for example. And this would kill retention, specially for rare/non-mainstream stuff, the availability of which is a proponent to use What and music trackers in general in my opinion - you can find popular albums on Ares, DDL forums, etc., where you don't have to worry about ratios.

do you just want to stop playing these games and download some damn music already?

Who wouldn't? That ruins the whole idea of file sharing, though.

[Blocker]

Basically I agree with the posts above , I think it is a wise move due to the fact maintaining a decent ratio with a slow connection is really difficult on What.cd

[saebrtooth]

I think what.cd go sick of using so much of their time and resources registering, deregistering members.

This will mean that their user base will remain steady but if they dont increase their members limit it will also mean it will become harder to get into.

[anon]

This will mean that their user base will remain steady but if they dont increase their members limit it will also mean it will become harder to get into.

They once hit their previous 100000 user limit, and increased it to 110000, and then 125000, which I think is the current figure. If I remember correctly, this was mentioned in the interview with WhatMan, and he said they weren't worried to have more users.

[fakeking]

Are they have freeleech or some kind of bonus leech for user with low upload, pal?

Are there hard to seed for me, pal?

Still don't have account there, pal. Will do interview or snatch some invites later.

[hellman]

i've heard they have freeleech system on wednesdays ... not much sure though

[shoulder]

It's CN that has Freeleech on Wednesdays.

[hellman]

It's CN that has Freeleech on Wednesdays.

i don't remember properly but what.cd also has a freelech day ... don't know when and or what is it but m sure about that.

[anon]

As far as I know, What.cd only has global freeleeches when their staff decides it.

[grebetu]

Yeah, freeleech on what.cd is a rare beast, there is no fl day.

There are staff picks that are fl but I personally don't share staff taste :)

[saebrtooth]

...in the interview with WhatMan, and he said they weren't worried to have more users.

Thats a good thing since there will be more seeders and leechers. And it wll also mean their server load will go up. maybe it will give them opportunity to upgrade some hardware

[anon]

And it wll also mean their server load will go up. maybe it will give them opportunity to upgrade some hardware

Swarm analyzing uses a lot of CPU, memcached uses a lot of RAM, and having a couple thousand online users uses a lot of bandwidth. Would be nice to know their current specs