Empornium: News

[Len]

Dear pervs,

We would like to give you a first peek at a major change we're planning to make to how credit distribution is calculated.

Right now, credit distribution is based simply on how many torrents you're seeding. We intend to change this so that torrents can earn credits at different rates. The rate per torrent will be based on two things:
 

number of seeders (fewer other seeders = more credits)

torrent size (bigger torrent = more credits)

These factors are combined into a new torrent attribute we're calling SeedValue. It's a numeric value that ranges from 1 (worst) to 100 (best), and credit rewards will scale accordingly. The seeders value is averaged over a couple of days to prevent the value from jumping up and down a lot.

The new approach is meant to encourage the seeding behaviour that is best for the site. It rewards users who keep torrents with few seeders alive, and those who help keep large torrents well seeded.

Actual numbers: You can now see the SeedValue for each torrent on its detail page, in the Torrent Info box below the other statistics. For the extra curious, you can hover your mouse over the value to show the seeders and size factors that were combined to calculate the SeedValue. You can also see the average number of seeders by hovering over the seeders number.

Credit gains will be calculated based on the total SeedValue of your torrents. Just like in the old system it's capped at 300 torrents, with diminishing returns applied to flatten off the credit gains at higher numbers. The exact calculation will be explained at a later date.

Schedule: There is no specific date set for when this will go live. There's still some site code to be written to make torrent SeedValue more visible in torrent lists, user pages, etc.; making this highly dependent on people's personal schedules. Saying that: unless we run into major setbacks, we expect it to go live well before the end of the year.

Specifics
 

The best torrents to seed are those that are 100 GiB or more in size, and that have 2 or fewer total seeders. These will have the maximum SeedValue of 100.

The worst torrents to seed are those that are 10 MiB or less in size, and that have 200 or more seeders. These score just 1 on both values, and have the minimum SeedValue of 1.

Most torrents will be somewhere in between. For example, a 10 GiB torrent with 10 seeders will have a SeedValue of 53, and a 100 MiB torrent with 50 seeders will have a SeedValue of 12.

The average SeedValue across all torrents is currently around 27. This should give you an indication how good or bad the SeedValue for a particular torrent is.

Because we average seeders over time for the calculation, and the average starts off at 0, newly uploaded torrents will have a relatively high SeedValue. The value will stabilize a couple of days after uploading.

If you're really curious about specific numbers, click below to show a table you may find useful:

SeedValue table: Show


Answers to a few questions you might have

Q: So that's it, no discussion with users, this is how it's going to be?
A: Not quite. Although we have decided that we want to adjust credit rewards to more accurately reflect the benefits to the site, the specifics are certainly not final. Anyone is welcome to offer their opinion and insights based on this announcement, and any reasonable comments and suggestions will be given serious consideration. In addition, the exact numbers will probably end up being tweaked over time based on initial experiences.

Q: Will my credit gains increase or decrease under the new system?
A: We're yet to announce the exact numbers, but in general the following applies: If you are seeding many larger torrents and/or torrents which have only 1 or 2 seeders, you will probably end up earning more. If you're mostly seeding small torrents with many seeders, you will end up earning less. Try sorting your seeding torrent list by size or seeders to get an idea.

Q: So is there still any point in seeding smaller torrents if I want credits?
A: Yes, definitely. Although smaller torrents will earn fewer credits than large ones (assuming equal seeders), they will still give you higher credits per MB: A 100 GB torrent will only earn 10 times as many credits as a 10 MB torrent, even though it's 100 000 times as large.

Q: I'm currently seeding 300+ very small torrents that have many seeders and not much else, and gaining max credits this way. So you're saying I'm screwed?
A: If you continue doing what you're doing: yes. You're gaining max rewards based on the least possible effort, and though this is not against the rules, it's not really fair that you gain more credits than someone who is seeding 100 large torrents and who is sole seeder on several of them. If you want to continue to gain decent credits, read the next answer.

Q: How can I prepare for the new system, so that I'm sure that I'll continue to gain credits at a high rate?
A: We recommend that you look for torrents with few seeders combined with tags that you're interested in, this avoids everyone jumping on the same torrents at once and keeps things fun b/c you'll hopefully still enjoy the stuff you download. For example, if you like huge tits, you'd look at this search query and start scrolling down from the top for interesting torrents. Many of them will be difficult to download due to limited seeders, but if you give them a couple of days most will probably complete, especially if you use the "request re-seed" link when it's available. Pick larger torrents if you have a fast connection and a lot of storage, or smaller ones if not.

Q: I'm seeding more than 300 torrents. If the cap is 300 torrents, does that mean my credit gains could actually go down if I start seeding a torrent that has low SeedValue?
A: No. We will always count your 300 torrents that have the highest SeedValue, so a specific torrent can never impact your total credit gains negatively.


Closing thoughts

We hope and expect that under the new system, Emp will become a better site for its users. After some time, torrents with a smaller audience should become easier to download and less likely to get deleted due to inactivity. We will closely monitor how seeding statistics change over time, and tweak the numbers to achieve the best possible result for everyone.

Questions and comments welcome! Discuss here.