SITE FAQ

1. What is this bittorrent all about anyway? How do I get the files?
BitTorrent (BT) is a peer-to-peer (P2P) protocol. Its structure is different to that of the traditional P2P programs such as Kazaa or the original Napster. BT varies because it uses a server (this website, also called a tracker) and a client (you) to download files. The basic run down is you connect to the tracker which then provides information back to your program which will allow you to connect to other people called peers and seed(er)s. A seed(er) is a person who has a complete file(s) and is sharing it. A peer is a person who is in the process of downloading the file(s). A peer also seeds the pieces of a file that they've already downloaded while they are connected to the server.

Check out the Wikipedia page for a detailed explanation.

2. Where does the donated money go?
PunkTorrents is situated on a dedicated server. The server costs us $365 USD a month to maintain. All the donated money goes towards the server bills.

USER INFORMATION FAQ

1. Ratio Rules:
Members MUST keep a ratio of above .40 or they will not be able to download from our tracker.
You are not allowed to leech torrents but can seed those you have downloaded. You can also upload and seed your own torrents.
You are given a 10gb download start before the Site will start to ban you from the Tracker.

2. I've lost my user name or password! Can you send it to me?
Please use this form to have the login details emailed back to you.

3. Can you rename my account?
Yes. Please write a Private Message (PM) to one of our Global Mods or Admins. Please note that your login name & display name will change. Make sure you login with your new name.

4. So what's MY ratio?
Click on your profile. It's important to distinguish between your overall ratio and the individual ratio on each torrent you may be seeding or leeching. The overall ratio takes into account the total amount uploaded and downloaded from your account since you joined the site. The individual ratio takes into account those values for each torrent.

You may see two symbols instead of a number:

• "Inf.", which is just an abbreviation for 'infinity', and means that you have downloaded 0 bytes while uploading a non-zero amount (ul/dl becomes infinity)
• "---", which means "unavailable", and shows up when you have both downloaded and uploaded 0 bytes (ul/dl = 0/0 which is an indeterminate amount).

5. What are the different user classes?

• Member
  The standard class of new members. You are allowed to leech and seed torrents.
• Member (Member-)
  Group that you drop into if you don't seed back enough. Users who have downloaded more than 10GB and have a ratio lower than 0.4. You are not allowed to leech torrents but can seed those you have downloaded. You can also upload and seed your own torrents.
• Member+
  Group that members move into when they have uploaded more than 30GB and have a ratio of 1.5+. Have access to a restricted forum.
• Uploader
  Users that have 360GB uploaded to PT's tracker and 2+ ratio - THIS WILL CHANGE FROM TIME TO TIME
• Donor
  Users that have donated to keep the site running. Have access to the Donor forum.
• Donor+
  Users that have donated to keep the site running and meet the same ratio requirements as uploaders. Have access to the Donor forum.
• Donor (Donor-)
  Users that have donated to keep the site running, but don't meet the ratio requirement of 0.4. Are not allowed to leech torrents. Have access to the Donor forum.
• Tracker Moderator
  Members who look after the download forums and torrents.
• Global Moderator
  Members who run the everyday routines, like moving/pruning posts, enforcing the rules, intervening in disputes if necessary, and generally keeping things friendly and tidy.
• Developer / Tech Moderator
  Heads the development and manages critical updates to the sites' software and server. Please do not approach with day-to-day issues, contact a Moderator or an Administrator instead.
• Administrator
  Heads of the community. Contact an Admin if you have issues that Moderators cannot resolve. Admins' decisions are always final, unless they change their minds!
• ^_^
  Ex-Admin, to be revered and worshipped like the deities they are!

Below is a table of what each member group can/can't do:

6. Why can't my friend become a member?
Currently Registration is open. Anyone can sign up to the site. Invites are not necessary. If we close Registrations we will add information about the invite system here.

UPLOADING FAQ

1. How do I upload a torrent?
Check out our video tutorials for the most common bittorrent clients:

• Video tutorial for uTorrent - Windows
• Video tutorial for Transmission - MAC
• Video tutorial for Vuze (Azureus) - MAC

Also take a look at these step-by-step guides:

• Picture tutorial for uTorrent - Windows
• How to Create a Release Info File (*nfo) - Windows

2. Announce URL
You must use the following announce URL for your uploads on PunkTorrents:

http://tracker.punktorrents.com:55250/announce

The most common cause of an "invalid announce URL" error is a space at the very end of the URL. Make sure you do not have any spaces before or after the URL.

3. I'm not downloading/uploading as fast as I could be, why?
There are two main causes of this:

• Firstly it's very possible that, because of the small number of seeds and peers for torrents on this site, you just won't get your fastest possible download speed. It's more likely that you will be able to upload at your fastest speed.
• The second reason is that you're behind a router and need to open ports.

4. How do I open ports?
This is an excellent website that tells you exactly what to do.

DOWNLOADING FAQ

1. What program do I need to use for .torrent files?
There are plenty of choices when choosing a program for your torrents. The two most popular are uTorrent and Azureus (Vuze). There are others to chose from but these two are feature-rich and always have the most up-to-date technology.

2. May I use any bittorent client?
No, these are the allowed ones:

• uTorrent
• Vuze (Azureus)
• BitTornado
• rtorrent
• Transmission
• kTorrent

3. My program has DHT, should I use it?
If you want to preserve your ratio then you MUST disable DHT.

4. Why did an active torrent suddenly disappear from the site?
There may be two reasons for this:

• The torrent may have been removed for breaking the site rules.
• The original uploader may have deleted it. You can either request a reseed from the uploader or use the Requests forums to ask other members to upload it.

5. How do I resume a broken download or reseed something?
Open the .torrent file. When your client asks you for a location, choose the location of the existing file(s) and it will resume/reseed the torrent.

6. What are these "a piece has failed a hash check" messages in my client?
Bittorrent clients check the data they receive for integrity. When a piece fails this check it is automatically re-downloaded. Occasional hash fails are a common occurrence, and you shouldn't worry.

Some clients have an (advanced) option/preference to 'kick/ban clients that send you bad data' or similar. It should be turned on, since it makes sure that if a peer repeatedly sends you pieces that fail the hash check it will be ignored in the future.

7. The torrent is supposed to be 100MB. How come I downloaded 120MB?
See the hash fails topic. If your client receives bad data it will have to redownload it, therefore the total amount downloaded may be larger than the torrent size. Make sure the "kick/ban" option is turned on to minimize the extra downloads.

STATS FAQ

1. Most common reason for stats not updating:

• The user is cheating (which, once we discover this, will lead to an instant ban).
• The server is overloaded and unresponsive. Just try to keep the session open until the server responds again. Flooding the server with consecutive manual updates is not recommended.
• You are using a faulty client. If you want to use an experimental or CVS version you do it at your own risk.

2. Best practices:

• If a torrent you are currently leeching/seeding is not listed on your profile, just wait or force a manual update.
• Make sure you exit your client properly, so that our tracker receives an "event=completed" message.
• If the tracker is down, do not stop seeding. As long as the tracker is back up before you exit the client the stats should update properly.

Other clients are banned, if you want to see a client added, send a PM to someone in the staff and ask them nicely.

WHAT IF I CAN'T FIND THE ANSWER TO MY PROBLEMS HERE?

Please post in the Help forum. You'll find it's usually a friendly and helpful place, provided you follow a few basic guidelines:

• Make sure your problem is not really in this FAQ. There's no point in posting just to be sent back here.
• Before posting read the sticky topics in the Help forum (the ones at the top). New information that hasn't yet been incorporated into the FAQ may be found there.
• Help us in helping you. Do not just say "it doesn't work!". Provide details so that we don't have to guess or waste time asking. What client do you use? What's your operating system (OS)? What's your network setup? What's the exact error message you get, if any? What are the torrents you are having problems with? The more you tell us the easier it will be to solve your problem, making it far more likely that your post will get a reply.
• And needless to say: be polite. Demanding help rarely works, asking for it usually does the trick.