And this is why many trackers have departed from purely ratio-based requirements.
A couple examples:
"Required ratio" based on percentage of "snatched" (i.e. downloaded) torrents you are seeded. For example, if you're seeding all torrents you have ever downloaded, your required can be 0 (instead of initially common values of 1 or 0.9).
Ratioless: no ratio requirements, but you must instead seed all torrents for a specified time.
Among people involved in private torrent communities it's fairly well-known that a purely ratio-based system does not provide the best incitements (which would be a library of content that is as diverse and well-seeded as possible).
Anyway, the main reason many prefer private trackers to public is not only because of enforcement of contributing back, but because of rules that ensure that the available content has high quality (i.e. curation).
One way some trackers combat this is with bonus points that are awarded based on how poorly seeded a torrent is. (Poorly seeded torrent -> More bonus points)
A couple examples:
"Required ratio" based on percentage of "snatched" (i.e. downloaded) torrents you are seeded. For example, if you're seeding all torrents you have ever downloaded, your required can be 0 (instead of initially common values of 1 or 0.9).
Ratioless: no ratio requirements, but you must instead seed all torrents for a specified time.
Among people involved in private torrent communities it's fairly well-known that a purely ratio-based system does not provide the best incitements (which would be a library of content that is as diverse and well-seeded as possible).
Anyway, the main reason many prefer private trackers to public is not only because of enforcement of contributing back, but because of rules that ensure that the available content has high quality (i.e. curation).