A new round in the development of file-sharing networks was the emergence of torrent trackers, with the help of which users were able to exchange files from each other's computers using special programs called torrent clients. Users in this process can be Seeds or Lichs. It is worth figuring out who they are and what are their differences.
Sids
A seed (or seeder) is a tracker user who has 100% of the electronic information associated with a particular torrent. There are two ways to become a seed. The first (classic) is to download the entire amount of data attached to the distribution on the torrent tracker. The second is to become the author of the distribution and be, in a sense, the parent of all future seeds that will download data via torrent. The second method is quite laborious and requires knowledge of all the rules for editing distributions, which are individual for each torrent tracker. In addition, we must not forget about copyright, since many films or programs are protected by the relevant law, so creating a distribution with such content may entail criminal liability.
Lychee
A leech (or leecher) is a torrent tracker user who has downloaded only a portion of the information corresponding to a particular distribution. Having downloaded 100% of the information, he will become a seed, however, he can distribute information on this torrent even as a lich, since torrent trackers, at the core of their technology, allow the lichs to share pieces of data missing from each other.
Torrent quality
Seeds and lychees, being the only participants in the exchange of information on torrent trackers, determine the quality of the distribution. It ranges from 0 to 1 (higher is rare, but possible). If the number of seeds and liches is the same, then the quality is 1. If it is less, then the quality is also less than one. Seeds can be much more numerous than liches when giving away is extremely popular. In a short period of time, the leecher becomes a seeder and begins the distribution of dominoes. As soon as the hype dies down, the quality of the distribution begins to fluctuate around 1 or slightly less.
The more information a seed gives out, the higher its rating. By analogy with the quality of a torrent, if a seed downloads less than it distributes, then its rating is greater than 1, and vice versa. Many torrent trackers reward highly rated users by giving them some kind of material prizes or user privileges (the right to moderate data, administer, issue paid posts, etc.).
All this led to the fact that many users began to increase their rating, artificially inflating the amount of data transferred for various distributions. Cheating, as a rule, is punishable by the rules of torrent trackers and is punishable by a ban.
