freeloaders

Cheezyman · #1 (**permalink**) July 23rd, 2004

What are freeloaders and whats with setting a connection preference for the # of people in your locale? would changing any of these affect how fast I download files? To look at hat im talking about go to tools/options/advanced/and they are under preferencing and locale preferencing.

murasame · #2 (**permalink**) July 23rd, 2004

Freeloaders are poeple who only use p2p in a one-way manner, meaning that they only use it to dld files from others but do not allow others to dld from them. The settings about freeloaders that are availalbe in LW were functional (notice the "were") a while ago but no more.
As with the locale thing, maybe its preferencing connection to people closer to you, but I don't really know.

Lord of the Rings · #3 (**permalink**) July 24th, 2004

murasame when & with which version did these functions stop working? Is it something to do with the version or is it platform specific, or the way the Gnutella netwk now works ? I've a friend who uses Kazaa & moves his shared files everytime somebody attempts to upload from him. I think that's a miserly attitude.

murasame · #4 (**permalink**) July 24th, 2004

I don't know exactly which version was last to sport the operational freeloader-block function, but I read from one of the "veterans" that it wasn't functional anymore.

jackiecontruccipizzagirl · #5 (**permalink**) July 31st, 2004

From now on whenever my hand is NOT raised it means I'm confused.

Actually this thread isn't confusing me, but I've been reading other posts in other threads where people are complaining about freeloaders and stuff, which is cool with me because freeloading seems rude, but I'm confused about a few things.

People seem to talk about IPs a lot and how they would like to come up with ways to ban certain IPs from downloading from them because of the freeloading issue. Also I've read people gripe about how a certain IP/person is only giving them 1KB/s.

My questions are:

1. What if someone is very generous IN GENERAL and has uploaded a zillion files over the months, but in the past few days has been having trouble and really wants to download a certain file, so he or she temporarily turns off uploading just to make it easier to get that one file? Can experienced but pi**ed off users note that IP address and add it to the sh** list somehow?

2. Usually when I go watch TV (when I'm all done downloading) I turn uploading on 100% if it's not already and come back during commercials to monitor things. Sometimes I see a whole lot of uploads that got cancelled, and sometimes (even with upload bandwidth at 100% and only a couple upload slots so that these couple slots should each be getting lots of bandwidth) each slot is uploading at like 1 or 2 KB/s. My questions is, after reading all the anger in some of these threads, are there people getting mad at me because they think I'm doing things I'm really not? How much can people really tell about me? I think in my case (and in the case of many others), the big picture about me and my habits, the big profile, would be great, but sometimes when for whatever reasons things just aren't working right, are people thinking I'm being stingy when I'm really not? I mean these peoples' posts I've read griping about someone giving them only 1KB/s, how do they know the people are stingy and not just having problems?

3. I'm going to ask this question under firewalls (and also try to read more about it) but I figured I'd ask it here anyway because it's related to me feeling leery about being involved with file sharing at this early stage when I don't know too much. I read someone gripe about firewalls, but how does someone even know a person is using a firewall and not just having problems?

TTYL :o)

Lord of the Rings · #6 (**permalink**) July 31st, 2004

I love the way you word your posts. I don't know why you should be so self-conscious b/c we're all basically anonymous anyway. I can only answer one part of your questions (murasame would be best at the other questions.) Many people like myself only have a dialup connection & I only achieve around 5-6 KB/s dwnld. If I'm dwnlding more than one file or the connection to the other party is not very good, it might be less. Also, people with better connections will often spread their dwnlds b/w several files so the speed they may get for one file 'might' be small. I've noticed that if I change my upld speed it seems to upset the uplders & they drop off after a few secs. - even when I've put it to unlimited. I don't know why this is. Do you use a firewall? Have you made sure you've maximised your upld/dwnld speeds according to your connection. There's threads discussing this here & the Upld/Dwnld section (Maximizing upload/download Success LimeWire).
My thoughts were that the threads you were refering to tended to forget about people like me.
So where are your arms now?

jackiecontruccipizzagirl · #7 (**permalink**) July 31st, 2004

My arms are in the air! I'm happy and less confused! Thanks for your response!

Yeah, you know I think most of the people doing the specific sort of griping I was talking about are the less experienced users. I'm just the sort of person who doesn't wanna offend ANYONE because:

1. You never know what sort of day someone is having and you should be nice to everyone. (Being nice doesn't mean avoiding sarcasm, though.)

2. What if some dude you offend (even if you really didn't do anything wrong) is the only person who has a specific file you want?

Anyway usually I have really good luck with both downloads AND uploads, it's just that some days are better than others and every so often I have good downloads but crappy uploads. I use Norton Personal Firewall 3.0 with port 6346 open (or the whole things disabled) by the way. I realize I have more reading to do, and I find all this very interesting! I just wanna be clear in my head on some things before I share at all.

:o)

murasame · #8 (**permalink**) July 31st, 2004

Read the sticky about configuring Limewire at the top of the Open Discussion forum (here). It isn't only directed towards broad-band users since it tells you how to configure it depending on your connection speed.
If you read it, you'll notice that I also suggest people to configure uploads: by configuring them that way, I manage to get more completed uploads as I'll have less available upload slots, but the people that download from me get their files a whole lot faster. Being able to download a file faster can mean:
-you have less chances of the download being canceled/dropped/whatever because of hosts (or you) going offline.
-you complete the download faster, thus releasing an open slot for another user, who'll also have a faster download. In other words, instead of having 100 users (again, a little exaggeration...) uploading from you with speeds ranging from a few Bytes to a couple of KiloBytes which means they would get their files after an hour, you get 10 users who will dld from you at full speed: they'll get their files in a couple of minutes, thus letting in the next 10 users come in and start downloading.

Also, I think banning a host is more of a function reserved for users serving bad files, viruses and various other stuff like that.
Besides, some people have IP adresses that change every now and then.

jackiecontruccipizzagirl · #9 (**permalink**) July 31st, 2004

Murasame-

I'll read that and then mostly likely get back to you and praise you, since your information has never been anything less than very helpful....

Also I read the broadband stuff you told me to read and that was great, too. Thanks again.

Just to be clear though, when (for whatever reasons) I'm having a bad upload day (which lately has been rare; things are going pretty well) and people are getting only 2 Kb/s from me, more experienced users do NOT assume then that it's any conscious decision or action on my part? In other words they know it may be something OTHER than my having rudely turned the upload settings to the absolute minimum?

Thanks again and TTYL :o)

murasame · #10 (**permalink**) July 31st, 2004

Hey, I figure they're thinking: "this user lets me download from them so I won't ban him". Even if you did turn uploading to the minimum, I don't think you'd get banned because:
-even if the others downloading from you can see what kind of connection you have (Cable, modem, blah blah...), there's no way I know that would allow them to see how many uploads you have and since many uploads mean lower speeds for the ones downloading from you... For all they know you could have a thousand active uploads.
-if we banned those who upload, then the network would die as all that would remain would be users behind firewalls and/or users that have disabled uploading altogether.

In short, no, I don't think that you'll get banned for having a bad upload day.

Lord of the Rings · #11 (**permalink**) July 31st, 2004

Do you think I'll get band for having a dialup despite having over 1k no. of dwnlds. I consistently have people cueing up (which I'm quite sorry about, but that's life on a modem), to get a hold of my stuff be it custom/other. Surprising really. I'm probably wrong, but I suspect that if I'm attempting to dwnld from somebody say in russia for eg with a T1 connection, I might not necessarily get a great dwnld speed from them even if they had their upld bandwth to the max. It's a suspicion only. I'd like to learn/know more about it b/c I believe there's more factors at stake than just their connection & what they offer upld wise. I'd be happy for anybody to make me the wiser.

murasame · #12 (**permalink**) July 31st, 2004

While you won't get banned, you'll probably get less uploads for rarer files IMO. After all, there's this filter in the Preferences that filters out connection speeds and/ or quality, among other things.
About the queueing thing, it's not just on modem: I used to have an awful lot of queues too and I'm on ADSL.

#13 (**permalink**) August 8th, 2004

The reason I am a freeloader is because I am afraid of the LAW, not because of being miserly.
I'd love to share all my shares! Man..i miss NAPSTER and those days, I didn't live in fear sharing. Since it's illegal to swap files, I am just afraid one of these days, the government will knock on my door. I was told that the only way to be above the law is not to share. Is this true or no?

chicagojohn · #14 (**permalink**) August 10th, 2004

Like LW, SoulSeek allows you to browse files of the user you are DL/UL from. This is a nice feature and you can see who shares and who doesn’t. If a freeloader comes along and is getting 1-2 files I let it go—otherwise you will be spending the majority of your time micro-managing your UL’s. If a freeloader is trying to DL my entire music catalog I will query as to why they don’t share—if they are new, I let that go because hey—we were all new at one time. I actually had a guy say that he wouldn’t share his files because I had less than 1000 files to share (what a snob (insert your favorite word)). Anyway, if I don’t get a response or the user says they don’t share then I ban them. When it comes to UL speeds I try to be patient because not everyone has Cable/DSL. If you really want that special file and the source has a Jurassic Modem well you just have to be patient. Like PizzaGirl, I will boost to the max when possible especially if someone has either shared a lot with me or they are DL a lot of files. In that case I’ll kick it up a notch—throw some cayenne on there baby! As to Freeloaders logic for not sharing—the argument holds no H2O (that’s water for all you non-chemistry types) with me. Following your freeloader logic you shouldn’t be RECEIVING any files either. Following your logic, what makes you think THE MAN won’t get you for taking the file and using that keygen to force it to work? It would be refreshing for a freeloader to just be honest and say, “Hey, I’m a taker. I go through life taking and using and don’t give back.” I realize there are varying degrees of paranoia but I think the current “administration” has enough to worry about without wondering where you got that video from. But if you don’t want to take my word for it I have outlined some ideas to make you feel more comfortable so you can share. First, buy some bandwidth on WESTCOM or SATSURV satellites (both are better). Buy 10-20 monitors so you can set the zoom features to include your: home, street, neighborhood, city, state, country. That way you can see THE MAN coming. Second, install elaborate safe rooms, tunnels and plenty of false doors, walls, and access panels, to confuse THE MAN should he get past the security guard you hired to monitor all your SAT feeds. I would also install industrial IR trip wires at all doors and windows. Third, buy several restaurant quality toasters so that you can melt your CD/DVD-R’s before the man gets to them. You will also need 5-6 industrial 20 pound magnets to wipe your floppies with. Install a fast access panel on the front of your CPU so you can pull your HD and put it the industrial hydraulic press you installed next to your computer. Also, customize your battery backup supply with a reverse polarity switch so that you can fry your motherboard by reversing the 800 watt flow. Most importantly make sure you wear a hood and dark glasses (a fake beard – even for the ladies is further advised), because we all know THE MAN can see you through your monitor. I would go down to the local shipyard and buy a million candle-watt searchlight off a decommissioned battleship to periodically shine into your monitor to temporarily blind THE MAN when he is spying on you. Since he can also record all your keystrokes you will need to install a key switch program that encrypts your input. I think they are still selling the enigma machine plans (I’ll get back to you on that). Once all this is in place you should feel very comfortable indeed in sharing your files. Best of luck