If you have a question as to why a certain rule exists or are unsure if your seed complies, please feel free to post in Technobabble. If you have questions regarding this FAQ and wish to discuss them in a language other than english, please post in our multilingual forum, Babylon.
1. Make sure your seed complies with the seeding policy.
First and foremost, your seed must comply with the seeding policy here at The Traders' Den. The most updated version of this document can always be found here.
2. Create a folder to contain all your files.
Put enought information in the folder title so that someone can easily tell what is in there. Something like 'band YYYY-MM-DD source'. You want people to easily be able to find a show they are looking for on their hard drive. Simply putting the band name for the folder title doesn't tell them much about the contents of the folder. Good examples: "Jpinkfloyd2006-03-10flac" or "pinkfloyd2006-03-10flac16" - the "16" meaning it was recorded in 16bit. Bad Examples: "Live Floyd" or "U2 Los Angeles".
Do NOT use any of the following characters in your folder name or filenames: ? [ ] / \ = + < > : ; " ,
3. If the music is from audio CD, rip it and compress to a lossless audio format.
If you are ripping audio from a lossless-sourced and digitally clean CDR or, preferrably, from an original silver CD, you must properly extract the audio data using an error-correcting CD ripper.
How do I extract audio data from an audio CD
Once you have accurately extraced the audio data from your CD, compress to FLAC or APE format (SHN is not recommended for new seeds) and move on to step 3.
4. Create a text file.
This text file must include all of the required information for your seed as specified in the seeding policy. This includes band name, venue/city, bootleg title, appropriate dates, lineage, and a complete numbered track list at a minimum. Band members, reviews, or additional notes are a nice touch, so if you have that information, please include it. Note that it is not necessary to include any ffp or md5 checksums in the text file as you will create that in step 4 and past it into a special window when creating your new thread.
5. Create an appropriate checksum.
For FLAC seeds, a FLAC fingerprint at mimimum is required. For SHN and APE seeds, an st5 checksum (also called shntool md5) is required. If your seed includes a traditional wholefile md5 file, it's OK to include it, but you'll need to also post st5 checksums or FLAC Fingerprints in the checksum box when you create your seed. See the Checksum Types FAQ for an explanation of the different checksum types.
6. Include any artwork scans, pdf files, ticket stub images, other extras.
This is not required, but is always a nice touch for your seeds to include any extra goodies that would be appropriate with your seed.
7. Double check that everything is done correctly and that all text files have been saved and closed before proceeding.
Before you create your .torrent file, you must make sure that everything has been done correctly including checksum files, images, file names, and a correct text file. If you change anything after this step, it will cause the .torrent file to be inaccurate and peers will be unable to complete the download. The most common error is altering the text file after the creation of the .torrent file, which will cause all peers to hang at 99.9% complete. Once you've double checked everything, be sure to save and close all the files associated with your seed and move to step 7.
8. Create a .torrent file.
The announce URL for your .torrent will be:
http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/tracker/announce.php
Please make sure to insert this URL exactly as it appears above. A mistake that seems to be a common one is accidentally including a space at the end from copying and pasting it from other places. Please make sure that you include only this 56-digit URL.
There are several programs that will do this, and all of them will work well. Use what you're comfortable with, but if you're new at this, here's a guide in our FAQ:
How do I create a torrent? (using Azureus which works on PC, Mac, and Linux).
Please note that some users have noted problems uploading torrents to this site when using TorrentSpy to create the torrent file.
9. Create a new announce thread and upload the torrent.
To simplify this step, we have created a specialized upload page that will both put your .torrent file on the tracker and create a properly formatted announce thread. To access the upload page, simply browse to the Audio BitTorrent Forum and press the "Upload Show" button in the top left corner. Or, you can get to this page from the navbar - Torrents > Upload DVD Video Show.This will direct you to the upload page. Simply fill out the appropriate fields. Be sure to include the checksum results in the appropriate box, preferrably the shntool md5 or FLAC fingerprint. When the information has been filled in, scroll to the bottom of the page and press the "Manage Attachments" button. This will open a window where you can browse to the .torrent file you wish to upload. Press "Upload" when done, close the attachment window, and press "Submit New Thread". Your .torrent file is now active on the tracker and your announce thread created.
10. Begin seeding.
Download the .torrent file from the thread - it gets personalized upon download. Then open the .torrent file with your BitTorrent client of choice. After it checks the files, your client will register itself as a seed with the tracker. If you client supports "super-seed" mode, you may want to enable that. Though it's not required, this mode will help you distribute the torrent faster by lowering the amount of redundant uploads. If you don't use it, plan on the upload taking about 25% longer.
11. Check that The Traders' Den registers you as a seeder.
Once the torrent is showing one seed, you know everything is well. Sit back and watch the peers drop by. Remember to support your seed at least until there are a handful of other seeds active.
Thank you for seeding and supporting The Traders' Den community. |
