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Due to how BitTorrent tracker (the actual tracker part, as defined in BEP-3) works, you can cheat your reported upload. There is way to detect obvious cheater (

by maeln 16d ago

Due to how BitTorrent tracker (the actual tracker part, as defined in BEP-3) works, you can cheat your reported upload. There is way to detect obvious cheater (if you claimed that you uploaded 1Tb on Torrent XYZ but the cumulative download on XYZ on the same period doesn't add up, that's sus), but due to the self-report nature of stats and potential loss and inaccuracy in the stats tracking (a legit client can report more upload than upload due to packet loss on the receiving end, how when the client stops counting, for example if a process was killed before sending the stats to the tracker). And due to the fact that it's p2p, you usually need to track and analyze behavior over several torrents to be sure. If torrent XYZ has 300Go download reported over a day, but over the same day seeder1 report 200Go uploaded and seeder2 report 150Go, you know it's likely that one of them is lying, but you don't know each one. Here is an open secret : A lot of private tracker operator are not dev. Some of them just know how to host a phpBB and one of the open-source tracker and administer it, and that's it. Many private trackers have little to no custom dev done to them. So most of them don't have elaborate cheating detection. Cheating will get you ban, but if you are subtle about it and don't try to claim enormous amount over little time, you can get away with it.

binaryturtle 16d ago
The proper way to cheat is to not leave a trace on the tracker where a tracker staff may or may not make correct judgement. It's called "ghost leeching." Basically you directly connect to known peers' IPs (e.g. from some heavy seedbox users) and never even report anything back to the tracker. Of course, those peers where you ghost leech of then would correctly report the upload they generate (making THEM look suspicious of cheating by "over-reporting" upload.) It's impossible for any tracker staff to properly detect and attribute proper cheating in such cases, unless they can detect a pattern. The tracker staff objectively can only catch people that do really stupid things. That's just the way BitTorrent and private tracker economics work. A "private" tracker is more like a social contract between its users to do the honourable thing, but you'll always have some idiots that do not get that, of course.
- maeln 16d ago
  The limitation with ghost leeching is that it won't help raise your ratio. It's a way to avoid decreasing it (by never reporting download). If your ratio is bad and for reasons you want to increase it, you will have to generate upload one way or another. You can ghost leech and then seed the torrent you downloaded, but it can also look weird that you are now seeding a torrent that you never downloaded. But due to the nature of torrent, it is also possible. But that's what I find fascinating. BitTorrent is a very cool tech, and not that hard to understand. It uses a lot of simple idea that works very well together. It's really fun to hack on it. And I add an obsession with findings 'cheating' methods a few years back. Overall, as you said, it's more of a social contract. None cared unless it was stupidly obvious.
HDBaseT 16d ago
This is almost never worth it with most sites and generous bonus points. If you see a few TBs on a Seedbox or your server for a year, you are pretty setup for life on most sites.

by maeln 16d ago

binaryturtle 16d ago

The proper way to cheat is to not leave a trace on the tracker where a tracker staff may or may not make correct judgement. It's called "ghost leeching." Basically you directly connect to known peers' IPs (e.g. from some heavy seedbox users) and never even report anything back to the tracker. Of course, those peers where you ghost leech of then would correctly report the upload they generate (making THEM look suspicious of cheating by "over-reporting" upload.) It's impossible for any tracker staff to properly detect and attribute proper cheating in such cases, unless they can detect a pattern. The tracker staff objectively can only catch people that do really stupid things. That's just the way BitTorrent and private tracker economics work. A "private" tracker is more like a social contract between its users to do the honourable thing, but you'll always have some idiots that do not get that, of course.

maeln 16d ago
The limitation with ghost leeching is that it won't help raise your ratio. It's a way to avoid decreasing it (by never reporting download). If your ratio is bad and for reasons you want to increase it, you will have to generate upload one way or another. You can ghost leech and then seed the torrent you downloaded, but it can also look weird that you are now seeding a torrent that you never downloaded. But due to the nature of torrent, it is also possible. But that's what I find fascinating. BitTorrent is a very cool tech, and not that hard to understand. It uses a lot of simple idea that works very well together. It's really fun to hack on it. And I add an obsession with findings 'cheating' methods a few years back. Overall, as you said, it's more of a social contract. None cared unless it was stupidly obvious.

HDBaseT 16d ago

This is almost never worth it with most sites and generous bonus points. If you see a few TBs on a Seedbox or your server for a year, you are pretty setup for life on most sites.