[gtbrown77]

Reading through this has made me think a little about the whole "donation for ratio" thing. A few things come to my mind.

First...I will say that I am a member at several different torrent sites, and my ratio at ALL of them is 0.9 or better (cuz sometimes it's hard to seed when there are no leeches, and sometimes it hard to seed for days and days and days....). It's not that hard, and no, I have never paid money to get the ratio credit. But, there are people out there who will just leech and leech, and don't really care to seed - for whatever reason (I've got a few guesses though). If they want to donate money to help out the site and get ratio credit in return so they can continue to use the site, well, isn't that their prerogative? Sure, it's KINDA like "buying" bootlegs, but I would guess we've all bought our fair share (in the past), despite there being alternative methods to obtaining them (tape trades, cd trades, b+p, p2p/torrents, etc).

On the other hand...like I said, I'm a member at several sites and have maintained a good ratio at all of them because I will stay on a torrent until I've seeded 1:1 (or as close as possible, since I'm not quite at 1.0 at a couple). Sometimes that means I have to wait an extra day (or two) in order to dl something...oh well. I'm getting it all for free and because of the kindness of people I've never met (BTW - Hi all ). Buying your ratio credits is just being lazy (THAT'S the American way!), and it doesn't really add a whole lot to the "community" aspect of the whole thing, which is what (at least some of) these sites truly are about.

So, to sum it up, if some people would just share more, the whole "donation for ratio" thing wouldn't really be an issue (or if sites abandoned their ratio requirements). Really, it's not that hard. But, if you find it difficult to maintain the ratio required at any particular site and can financially afford to donate so as not to lose your privileges, then be my guest. I'll continue to seed so that everybody can benefit - rich or poor.

(Of course, on the other hand...exchanging donations for ratio credit is like the old practice of selling indulgences through the Church...but I won't go there )