FAQ - Requently Asked Questions

"Failure: unregistered torrent pass"
Cause: The tracker can not find a user associated with the torrent pass you're sending it in your announce URL.
Solution: Re-download the torrent from the site


"Failure: unregistered torrent"
Cause: The torrent you downloaded is not/no longer tracked by our tracker.
Solution: Check if the torrent has been swapped or replaced. We occasionally prune old obsolete torrents or material that has become blacklisted.


"Failure: access denied, torrents limit reached"
Cause: You are downloading too many torrents.
Solution: Users are allowed to download 3 torrent at a time. Power Users are allowed to download 10 torrents at a time. You are allowed to seed an unlimited number of torrents.
Check your userpage to see which torrents you are allegedly downloading.

My stats are not updating, what can I do?

• Re-download the .torrent files and open them in your client
• If that doesn't help, go to your profile page and regenerate your torrent pass, then repeat the above step.
• Use only official non-beta clients

Best practices

• If a torrent you are currently leeching/seeding is not listed on your profile, stop the torrent and resume it again.
• Make sure you exit your client properly, so that the tracker receives the required information.
• If the tracker is down, do not stop seeding. Your stats may not update during downtime but as soon as the tracker is working again then your stats should start to update again.

What Bittorrent clients can I use?

There is currently no restriction on which clients you may use, but this will most likely change in the future. The tracker updates your stats correctly for most Bittorrent clients. However, we still recommend that you use the following clients: Azureus, uTorrent

For any client, we urge you to keep it up to date, most clients have had some problems with earlier versions.

Also, clients in alpha or beta version should be avoided.

We neither recommend nor will we provide support for:

BitComet
BitLord (modified BitComet with spyware added)
Shareaza


Why is a torrent I'm leeching/seeding listed several times in my profile?

If for some reason (e.g. PC crash or frozen client) your client exits improperly and you restart it, it will have a new peer_id, so it will show as a new torrent. The old one will never have had its finished information sent and will be listed until the peer information times out. Just ignore it, it will eventually go away.


I've finished or cancelled a torrent. Why is it still listed in my profile?

Some older clients do not report properly to the tracker when cancelling or finishing a torrent. In that case the tracker will keep waiting for the message - and thus listing the torrent as seeding or leeching - until the peer information timeout occurs. Just ignore it, it will eventually go away.


Why do I sometimes see torrents I'm not leeching in my profile?!

Under our new keying system, it is not possible for the tracker to confuse you with another peer. If you see torrents listed in your profile that you are DEFINITELY not leeching/seeding on, then we suggest you take the following actions:

• Go to your profile page and generate a new torrent pass.
• Change the e-mail and password on your account.

The first action is a precaution against those who may have somehow obtained your passkey. The second action is a precaution against those who may have managed to access your account, thereby being able to download any torrent with your passkey associated with them.

Can I login from different computers?

If you want to start torrent traffic from more than one computer, simply log in and download the torrent file from that computer and start it.

Why can't I upload torrents?

Power Users can make offers of torrents they wish to upload, which will be granted or rejected by staff. Staff members and certain approved users are permitted to upload directly without having to go through the approval procedure.


How do I make an offer if I'm a Power User?

Click the 'Offer' button on the left side of the page. When creating your torrent, be sure to set the 'private' flag, or the system will automatically reject your torrent. Once you've created your torrent, fill in the description of your torrent (if uploading a series/movie/OVA, a short description of the plot will do; if uploading an OST, track listings and file details, etc.). Once you submit your torrent for approval, it will join a queue of torrents awaiting judgement. You may leave your client 'seeding' your torrent at this point. If granted, your torrent will be immediately added to Box's torrent pool (and if you are 'seeding', you will begin immediately). If rejected, your torrent will remain in 'limbo', sitting on the queue with 'rejected' status until either you or a mod removes it.


What should I put in the description?

We like pretty descriptions so we allow you to use BBcode and HTML.
Always include who released the files and as specfic as possible an indication of the quality (bitrate, resolution, codec etc.).
Include a short description of what you're uploading, usually people include a short plot summary; be careful of spoilers though.
Preferably mark-up your text using BBcode or HTML; you can find many examples of nice templates in other peoples' descriptions.
It's also very much appreciated if you include images and/or screenshots and links to sites like AniDB and AnimeNewsNetwork.


What is a good title for my torrent?

The title only needs to contain the original Japanese title and possibly the English title as well. You are encouraged to add the fansub group in the title as well. (example: Japanese Title | English Title [fansub]). Generally words like "OVA" or not necessary because of the category system. Incase you're uploading only a season of a longer series it is useful to include the season and/or the episodes (for example: My Series - Season 1 [01-25]).


What are good keywords for my torrent?

You have to see the keywords as a second way to categorize torrents. Choose keywords that truthfully reflect the content of the files you're uploading and that allows it to be found in different ways that just search for a title.
Good keywords are: genre^*, 720p/1080p, fansub group, author, director that kind of stuff. Someone might be interested in all of "Miyazaki's" or Studio 4C works, searching for Miyazaki resp. Studio 4C will match the keywords and you have what you're looking for.
Bad keywords are: anything that appears in the title of the torrent or is already expressed otherwise (OST, OVA, HD, Movie etc.)  (except maybe the fansub group).

Follow these guildelines:

• First of all ask yourself the question: "If I were looking for an anime 'like' this one, what keywords would I be looking for?" and "which keywords are not needed?"
• Secondly try to keep the list of keywords as short as possible, definitely no more than 10 keywords. If you're adding a lot of genres you can consider dropping common genres like 'Comedy' and 'Action' which apply to most anime anyway. Also drop near duplicate keywords like 'Contemporary Fantasy' and 'Fantasy', they are not both needed, just keep "Contemporary Fantasy".
• Add only useful keywords, no one will search for keywords such as 'mp3' or 'DVD'.
• Do not add duplicate keywords, for instance "Yuki Kajiura" and "Kajiura Yuki" or "Science-Fiction" and "SciFi" just add only the most common.
• This also holds for fansub names: add either for instance Shinsen or SHS but not both, the latter is preferred because it is shorter
• Do not add alternative titles or alternative spellings, see title guidelines.
• Check the list of keywords for existing keywords and/or common spellings. Keep in mind that the keyword listing is case-sensitive so match case if possible, matching other keywords is better than making a new one.

* When listing genre's use AniDB's categories, not AnimeNFO or ANN, for consistency.

Keyword syntax
We've just discussed the semantics of keywords, but what about the syntax? First of all not all characters are allowed, only alphanumeric characters, dashes (-) and spaces are allowed. Furthermore a keyword is allowed to have two spaces, no more. Each keyword must be separated by a comma (,). If you're making a keyword of a composed word (for instance: Mamoru Oshii) keep it one keyword, don't add a comma in between. Genres like "Magical girl" and "Law and Order" should also be written without commas.


What "extra files" should I add?

"Extra files" allow you to add (small) files to your torrent, files which you want to include but don't really belong in the torrent. You can think of SFV/MD5 files for file verification or NFO files for credits and info. You are not allowed to add images. Linking to the files will not work, the link is dynamic and becomes invalid after 24 hours.

Any and all files released by the original source should be included as "extra files" (granted they do not violate the "extra files" rules).
All video torrents (series/movies/ova) should at least contain an SFV or MD5 file with (official) hashes, you can get the CRCs from the fansubbers website or AniDB.net (the latter also lists md5 hashes).


What can/can't I put in my torrents?

Please refer to our Upload Guidelines and the Do Not Upload list.


What should I put in my torrents?

What we look for in torrents are:

• A good description: we look for succinct, accurate descriptions of the contents of your torrent. For series/movies/OVAs, a plot summary and files details (sub group, video and audio codec, subtitle type) will suffice. For OSTs, track listings and file information (codec, bit rate) will do. For manga, a plot summary and the scanlation group will do fine.
• File quality: free of hash errors.
• File consistency: if possible, all files released by a single group, all file names in the same format as they were originally released by the group responsible. If uploading a manga, please archive your files by volume or chapter, depending on how long the manga goes for. Please overlook archiving if the manga is very short (a oneshot), or zip by chapter if there is only a single volume.
• No 'unnecessary' files: do not include codecs or programs. Acceptable files are external translation notes (for series/movies/OVAs) and credits pages (for manga)). If you're unsure about anything, please say so in the comments of your torrent offer.

What is this torrent swapping feature?
If, for any reason, something is wrong with your torrent (such as containing improper files or lacking a version 2 of an episode), you may request to swap the .torrent file. This will negate the need to delete the torrent and upload it again. You may apply to swap your own torrent files when they are either in the Offer stage or they are registered with the tracker.

To do so, edit your torrent. There will be a section for you to select a new .torrent file to replace the current one and a space for you to enter a reason why. Upon sending the request, you will need to wait for a moderator or admin to grant the swap request.


Can I upload your torrents to other trackers?

No. This generates extra traffic for the tracker without users visiting the site itself. It also usually results in the torrent being overrun by bad leechers, as users are not aware of the site rules.

Complaints from other sites' administrative staff about our torrents being posted on their sites will result in the banning of the users responsible.

(However, the files you download from us are yours to do as you please. You can always create another torrent, pointing to some other tracker, and upload it to the site of your choice.)

Why did an active torrent suddenly disappear?

There may be three reasons for this:
(1) The torrent may have been out-of-sync with the site rules.
(2) The uploader or a moderator may have deleted it because it contained bad files. A replacement will probably be uploaded to take its place.
(3) The torrent was requested to be removed by a 3rd party.


How do I resume a broken download or reseed something?

Open the .torrent file. When your client asks you for a location, choose the location of the existing file(s), force a recheck/rehash, and it will resume/reseed the torrent.


Why do my downloads sometimes stall at 99%?

The more pieces you have, the harder it becomes to find peers who have pieces you are missing. That is why downloads sometimes slow down or even stall when there are just a few percent remaining. Just be patient and you will, sooner or later, get the remaining pieces.


What are these "a piece has failed a hash check" messages?

Bittorrent clients check the data they receive for integrity. When a piece fails this check it is automatically re-downloaded. Occasional hash fails are a common occurrence, and you shouldn't worry.

Some clients have an (advanced) option/preference to 'kick/ban clients that send you bad data' or similar. It should be turned on, since it makes sure that if a peer repeatedly sends you pieces that fail the hash check it will be ignored in the future.


The torrent is supposed to be 100MB. How come I downloaded 120MB?

See the hash fails topic. If your client receives bad data it will have to redownload it, therefore the total downloaded may be larger than the torrent size. Make sure the "kick/ban" option is turned on to minimize the extra downloads. Overhead may also account for some of this data.


What's this "IOError - [Errno13] Permission denied" error?

If you just want to fix it reboot your computer, it should solve the problem. Otherwise, read on.

IOError means Input-Output Error, and that is a file system error, not a tracker one. It shows up when your client is for some reason unable to open the partially downloaded torrent files. The most common cause is two instances of the client to be running simultaneously: the last time the client was closed it somehow didn't really close but kept running in the background, and is therefore still locking the files, making it impossible for the new instance to open them.

A more uncommon occurrence is a corrupted FAT. A crash may result in corruption that makes the partially downloaded files unreadable, and the error ensues. Running scandisk should solve the problem. (Note that this may happen only if you're running Windows 9x - which only support FAT - or NT/2000/XP with FAT formatted hard drives. NTFS is much more robust and should never permit this problem.)

The download speed mostly depends on the seeder-to-leecher ratio (SLR). Poor download speed is mainly a problem with new and very popular torrents where the SLR is low.

(side note: make sure you remember that you did not enjoy the low speed. Seed so that others will not endure the same.)

There are a couple of things that you can try on your end to improve your speed:


Do not immediately jump on new torrents

In particular, do not do it if you have a slow connection. The best speeds will be found around the half-life of a torrent, when the SLR will be at its highest. (The downside is that you will not be able to seed so much. It's up to you to balance the pros and cons of this.)


Make yourself connectable

See the Why is my port listed as "---"  section.


Limit your upload speed

The upload speed affects the download speed in essentially two ways:

    * Bittorrent peers tend to favour those other peers that upload to them. This means that if A and B are leeching the same torrent and A is sending data to B at high speed then B will try to reciprocate. So due to this effect high upload speeds lead to high download speeds.
    * Due to the way TCP works, when A is downloading something from B it has to keep telling B that it received the data sent to him. (These are called acknowledgements - ACKs -, a sort of "got it!" messages). If A fails to do this then B will stop sending data and wait. If A is uploading at full speed there may be no bandwidth left for the ACKs and they will be delayed. So due to this effect excessively high upload speeds lead to low download speeds.

The full effect is a combination of the two. The upload should be kept as high as possible while allowing the ACKs to get through without delay. A good thumb rule is keeping the upload at about 80% of the theoretical upload speed. You will have to fine tune yours to find out what works best for you. (Remember that keeping the upload high has the additional benefit of helping with your ratio.)

If you are running more than one instance of a client it is the overall upload speed that you must take into account. Some clients (e.g. Azureus) limit global upload speed, others (e.g. Shad0w's) do it on a per torrent basis. Know your client. The same applies if you are using your connection for anything else (e.g. browsing or ftp), always think of the overall upload speed.


Limit the number of simultaneous connections

Some operating systems (like Windows 9x) do not deal well with a large number of connections, and may even crash. Also some home routers (particularly when running NAT and/or firewall with stateful inspection services) tend to become slow or crash when having to deal with too many connections. There are no fixed values for this, you may try 60 or 100 and experiment with the value. Note that these numbers are additive, if you have two instances of a client running the numbers add up.


Limit the number of simultaneous uploads

Isn't this the same as above? No. Connections limit the number of peers your client is talking to and/or downloading from. Uploads limit the number of peers your client is actually uploading to. The ideal number is typically much lower than the number of connections, and highly dependent on your (physical) connection.


Just give it some time

As explained above peers favour other peers that upload to them. When you start leeching a new torrent you have nothing to offer to other peers and they will tend to ignore you. This makes the starts slow, in particular if, by change, the peers you are connected to include few or no seeders. The download speed should increase as soon as you have some pieces to share.


Why is my browsing so slow while leeching?

Your download speed is always finite. If you are a peer in a fast torrent it will almost certainly saturate your download bandwidth, and your browsing will suffer. A client like Azureus allows the user to limit uploads & downloads. You will have to use a third-party solution, such as NetLimiter.

Browsing was used just as an example, the same would apply to gaming, IMing, etc...

Caveat: This is a large and complex topic. It is not possible to cover all variations here.

Short reply: change to an ISP that does not force a proxy upon you. If you cannot or do not want to then read on.

What is a proxy?

Basically a middleman. When you are browsing a site through a proxy your requests are sent to the proxy and the proxy forwards them to the site instead of you connecting directly to the site. There are several classifications (the terminology is far from standard):

Transparent	A transparent proxy is one that needs no configuration on the clients. It works by automatically redirecting all port 80 traffic to the proxy. (Sometimes used as synonymous for non-anonymous.)
Explicit/Voluntary

 

Clients must configure their browsers to use them.

Anonymous

 

The proxy sends no client identification to the server. (HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR header is not sent; the server does not see your IP.)

Highly Anonymous

 

The proxy sends no client or proxy identification to the server. (HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR, HTTP_VIA and HTTP_PROXY_CONNECTION headers are not sent; the server doesn't see your IP and doesn't even know you're using a proxy.)

Public

  [table]