You think 200 is mean?!??!?!?!?! I set it at 500 (I share way more than that) specifically because I want priority access to go to folks with broadband and other serious users. Not to be mean to modem users... file number is a bad measure anyway. Gigabytes shared would be a much more usefull criterion. Most of my many many files are over 10MB... and many are closer to 1GB. I don't want some punk on a 14.4 trying to download something that will take a month when there are other folks that can utilize my bandwidth better.

The thing is, though, there's nothing really preventing anyone (even modem users or people with small HDDs) from just grabbing 10,000 5kB gifs off a newsgroup.

Besides, it's a multivariable decision. I have broadband but a relatively slow computer. For me this means I can get and share big files readily, but my machine cannot handle having more than just a few people grabbing files at a time. Modem users shouldn't tie up slots on T3's or T1's... those are for Cable and DSL. Modem users should connect to the Cable and DSL users... but more importantly to eachother. That's how you foster a healthy network.

Oh, and don't forget. "Rarely" doesn't mean zero. It means ten (percent, I think). Even with my strict 500 minimum, my upload slots are always full... ...and almost exclusively by folks downloading at broadband speeds. So I guess I'm doing something right.