Isn’t a torrent just, like…directly sharing a file from your PC? What’s all this business about “seeding” and “leeching”?
In: 517
Imagine you’re in a classroom and trying to get the phone numbers for all of your classmates to study from.
**Approach A:**
Step 1: you write down everyone’s phone numbers, then give it to Amy. (the other 20 people wait) Step 2: You write down everyone’s phone numbers, then give it to Brad. (the other 19 people wait) Step 3: You write down everyone’s phone numbers and give it to Corey. (the other 18 people wait) Etc… one person is copying the entire file and passing it out individually.
**Approach B:**
Step 1: you write down your phone number and give it to Amy. (the other 20 people wait) Step 2: You write down your phone number and give it to Brad. AT THE SAME TIME, Amy writes down your phone number and hers and gives it to Corey. (only 18 people are waiting) Step 3: You, and Amy, and Brad, and Corey are all giving out parts of the list to four other people ( 15 people are waiting). Everyone is working cooperatively to give everyone what they need which often speeds up the process exponentially
This has certain benefits: no one is sitting, waiting, twiddling their thumbs (efficiency); if Amy is a slow writer, we can have one person work with her while other people work with the other students (bandwidth), if you decide to leave the classroom, everyone else can still copy down all the information quickly with what information they have already.
The first person (and people who keep sharing after they have it) are “seeding”, everyone who is getting it then immediately quits without sharing back is “leeching”.
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