Private BitTorrent trackers are markets

Not all private trackers run a "hard" or "soft" ratio economy as described in this article. Some run with a ratioless economy: seed a downloaded torrent until 1:1 or for X hours, otherwise you receive a "hit and run" (HnR). Too many HnRs on your account = ban.

I was explaining the same concept to my girlfriend ( in less technical words) as an example for the argument of Jaron Lanier against the free market (youtube, tiktok, soundcloud,…) where content is supposed to be created and accessed for free. The ratio and *coins arbitrarily created and determined enforces the primary purpose of these kind of place which is “Share new things, share as long as you can and the rewards is that you can be part of the elites (status and access)”.

&gt; ratio, which is the bits you download divided the bits you upload.<p>I think this should be uploaded&#x2F;download not downloaded&#x2F;uploaded.

It’s a sort of mechanical analogy. In markets, prices serve to equalize supply and demand. By definition the seeding and leeching data quantities must be equal in the entire torrent system so any torrent tracker will need to “clear the market”.

&gt; Is there a real-world equivalent? i.e. allowing rich people to exchange some of their worth for vanity items instead of investing it for future gain?<p>The vanity items are for future gain too