3 ms·

Would you call torrents decentralised?

encryptluks2 6y ago
To an extent, although many times you still rely on a centralized tracker and dedicated seeds. Unless you belong to a private tracker where users are forced to maintain certain ratios to continue using a service, then in most cases a torrent will end up like an IPFS site without any pins. If IPFS provided the ability to track pins from users of a site like private trackers, and provide rewards or some incentive then I think IPFS would gain much wider adoption.
- t3rr0r 6y ago
  you're describing an architecture similar to a project I'm working on using orbitdb/ipfslog - it's not quite ready for sharing/using but there's more information here: https://www.reddit.com/r/musichoarder/comments/lrqx7m/record_a_distributed_audio_file_system/ https://www.reddit.com/r/musichoarder/comments/lrqx7m/record...
  - encryptluks2 6y ago
    Thanks. Napster 3.0 here we come ;)
- pythonaut_16 6y ago
  Most torrent clients also "pin" content a user downloads by default, with configuration options to stop seeding once certain conditions or upload ratios are met. Does IPFS support something similar? e.g. pin this content until I have a 5:1 upload to download ratio --- I 100% agree on the ability to track pins. I want to see organizations be able to easily peer/pin content from other orgs they endorse; and for end users to be able to follow and help peer for organizations they support. I want something like Youtube where I choose who appears as in the related videos on my channel and can be a peer to hosting them; and where my users can help to peer my videos (and I can help peer others). As an end user, my client (or local server/cache) would prefetch the content I follow both to be a peer and to have it ready for me to access. This would also help with locality of data; if 4 people in my household watch the same video or channel they would be able to get the content locally. If I'm an organization with a physical location, users connected to my network can fetch the content on a local link.
WJW 6y ago
Some torrents. There are many torrents basically held up by a single peer and those are not in practice decentralized. They could become so if more peers start seeding the torrent, but just because the architecture provides for decentralisation does not make all torrents decentralized.

To an extent, although many times you still rely on a centralized tracker and dedicated seeds. Unless you belong to a private tracker where users are forced to maintain certain ratios to continue using a service, then in most cases a torrent will end up like an IPFS site without any pins. If IPFS provided the ability to track pins from users of a site like private trackers, and provide rewards or some incentive then I think IPFS would gain much wider adoption.

t3rr0r 6y ago
you're describing an architecture similar to a project I'm working on using orbitdb/ipfslog - it's not quite ready for sharing/using but there's more information here: https://www.reddit.com/r/musichoarder/comments/lrqx7m/record_a_distributed_audio_file_system/ https://www.reddit.com/r/musichoarder/comments/lrqx7m/record...
- encryptluks2 6y ago
  Thanks. Napster 3.0 here we come ;)
pythonaut_16 6y ago
Most torrent clients also "pin" content a user downloads by default, with configuration options to stop seeding once certain conditions or upload ratios are met. Does IPFS support something similar? e.g. pin this content until I have a 5:1 upload to download ratio --- I 100% agree on the ability to track pins. I want to see organizations be able to easily peer/pin content from other orgs they endorse; and for end users to be able to follow and help peer for organizations they support. I want something like Youtube where I choose who appears as in the related videos on my channel and can be a peer to hosting them; and where my users can help to peer my videos (and I can help peer others). As an end user, my client (or local server/cache) would prefetch the content I follow both to be a peer and to have it ready for me to access. This would also help with locality of data; if 4 people in my household watch the same video or channel they would be able to get the content locally. If I'm an organization with a physical location, users connected to my network can fetch the content on a local link.

WJW 6y ago

Some torrents. There are many torrents basically held up by a single peer and those are not in practice decentralized. They could become so if more peers start seeding the torrent, but just because the architecture provides for decentralisation does not make all torrents decentralized.