The original post: /r/torrents by /u/rekabis on 2025-01-31 20:07:49.

I run BiglyBT, because I truly enjoy the flexibility and power it provides. IMO nothing comes even close to BiglyBT/Vuze/Azureus in that regard.

But I have been looking over my existing seeding, and have noticed that a number of torrents from a long time ago - a decade-plus, in some cases - simply aren’t seeding out any more. I am seeing an “Up Idle” in the years, with some of them being idle for the last 5 years. Which means that nothing has requested anything from these torrents in a damn long time.

My current pruning strategy is something like this:

• Examine age. Start with the oldest torrents
• Are there zero peers?
• Are there zero leechers?
• Is the Up Idle measured in years (ideally 3+)?
• Is the share ratio less than 20 (ideally <1)?

Then I prune.

Obviously, my keep strategy is pretty much the opposite:

• Are there less than 2 peers?
• Are there any leechers?
• Is the Up Idle less than 1 year (ideally <1mo)?
• Is the share ratio 20+ (min. >2)?

Then I definitely keep, because there is still active demand for them.

As of now, I have pruned my torrents from 3K+ down to about 1,500, with the currently-oldest torrent being a PDF of Excel 2016 for Business Statistics from 8 years ago (to the day, actually!) still being actively leeched. It only has a share ratio just shy of 500. Other younger torrents are getting close to share rations of 5,000+.

Aside from just indiscriminate removal, does anyone employ a different strategy?