The way torrenting works, you’re getting different parts of a file from different people, while at the same time you’re also sharing the little parts you’ve received so far with other recent downloaders.
Seeders are people that already have the full file and are spreading (seeds) for other users to download through the same torrent.
Leechers are those that are currently downloading the file but still have not finished.
The term “Leecher” is also used to call those that delete the torrent as soon as it finishes dowaloading. It’s good practice to seed it (upload), at the very least, for the same amount you downloaded.
So everyone is a leecher until the file is downloaded and you tou only become a seeder by allowing the upload to finish? Is that correct? Sorry, just got done driving 17hrs so my mind is a little mush.
Mostly you’ve got the right idea. Important to note that seeding is not only done after you have 100% of the file downloaded (the whole time you’re downloading you are also uploading back the files you already have up to that point) but private trackers mostly make the assumption that anyone in the peer swarm that isn’t at 100% yet is leeching until proven otherwise.
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