this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2023
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IMO it's more complicated than it might initially appear. With my connection I could seed back a 1:1 ratio on something in hours - who does that really benefit? Did me being the 789th seed on a torrent for 3 hours really help it survive? Could that bandwidth have been better utilized on a less-seeded torrent? Could other seeders' bandwidth (that you are replacing while seeding) have been utilized on a less-seeded torrent?
Just seed back whatever you feel is convenient, especially if the content has lower seed numbers. On a public tracker, I usually keep things around for at least a few days because my bandwidth is free and I have extra storage space. If you're on a private tracker the answer is generally "forever/as long as you are keeping the data", which prevents me from thinking too hard about it.
I know I ask a while after but I have your answer in mind for days and I have a somewhat subjective question: How many seeders can be considered few seeders? For example, right now I downloaded the latest Garuda Linux ISO and it has 30 seeders (the Gnome version) but with what you said I really don't see the need to seed this because I'm going to seed something that already has many seeders and Garuda is constantly renewing its ISOs.
If it's literally Garuda Linux then I wouldn't worry at all. They always have direct downloads available so it's not like the data that the torrent represents can be lost. At least one of those seeders is probably also a literal data center or etc, which will always be seeding with a high quality connection.
For other types of data, I would consider 30 to be at the bare minimum of healthy. It's still a relatively low number, and it's subject to fall to lower numbers even within months. It's more of a guesstimation since people stop seeding due to a number of unpredictable factors. If something is at like 10 or below I would consider that a dangerous level, where if you stop seeding the data could be lost at some point within the next year or so. Notably, if something isn't being snatched often you won't be giving up any bandwidth to keep it alive, only disk space. If you're already keeping that data around for your own purposes, then keeping these torrents seeded is more or less "free."