feat(users/Profpatsch/blog): Private Trackers Are Markets

https://profpatsch.de/notes/private-trackers-are-markets

Change-Id: Ie2d83c426dbd021202c95c4935cbf70b51ef90fc
Reviewed-on: https://cl.tvl.fyi/c/depot/+/10614
Tested-by: BuildkiteCI
Autosubmit: Profpatsch <mail@profpatsch.de>
Reviewed-by: Profpatsch <mail@profpatsch.de>

users/Profpatsch/blog/default.nix

@@ -25,6 +25,15 @@ let
 
   # /notes/*
   notes = [
+    {
+      route = [ "notes" "private-trackers-are-markets" ];
+      name = "Private bittorrent trackers are markets";
+      page = { cssFile }: markdownToHtml {
+        name = "private-trackers-are-markets";
+        markdown = ./notes/private-trackers-are-markets.md;
+        inherit cssFile;
+      };
+    }
     {
       route = [ "notes" "an-idealized-conflang" ];
       name = "An Idealized Configuration Language";

users/Profpatsch/blog/notes/private-trackers-are-markets.md

@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+# Private bittorrent trackers are markets
+
+Private bittorrent trackers have a currency called ratio,
+which is the bits you upload divided the bits you download.
+
+You have to keep the ratio above a certain lower limit,
+otherwise you get banned from the market or have to cut a deal with the moderators → bancruptcy
+
+New liquidity (?) is introduced to the market by so-called “freeleech” events or tokens,
+which essentially allow you to exchange a token (or some time in the case of time-restricted freeleech)
+for some data, which can then be seeded to generate future profits without spending ratio.
+
+Sometimes, ratio is pulled from the market by allowing to exchange it into website perks,
+like forum titles or other benefits like chat-memberships. This has a deflationary effect.
+It could be compared to “vanity items” in MMOs, which don’t grant a mechanical advantage in the market.
+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?
+
+Sometimes, ratio can be traded for more than just transferred bits,
+for example by requesting a torrent for a certain album or movie,
+paying some ratio for the fulfillment of the request.
+
+---
+
+Based on how bittorrent works, usually multiple people “seed” a torrent.
+This means multiple people can answer a request for trading ratio.
+Part of the request (i.e. the first 30% of a movie)
+can be fulfilled by one party, part of it by a second or even more parties.
+
+For small requests (e.g. albums), often the time between announcing the trade
+and filling the trade is important for who is able to fill it.
+Getting a 1 second head-start vastly increases your chance of a handshake
+and starting the transmission, so on average you get a vastly higher ratio gain from that torrent.
+Meaning that using a bittorrent client which is fast to answer as a seeder will lead to better outcomes.
+This could be compared to mechanisms seen in high-speed trading.
+
+---
+
+Of course these market-mechanisms are in service of a wider policy goal,
+which is to ensure the constant availability of as much high-quality data as possible.
+There is more mechanisms at play on these trackers that all contribute to this goal
+(possible keywords to research: trumping, freeleech for underseeded torrents).
+
+In general, it is important to remember that markets are only a tool,
+never an end in themselves, as neoliberalists would like us to believe.
+They always are in service of a wider goal or policy. We live in a society.