Latest revision as of 02:50, 20 December 2021

Questions We Don’t Like Answering Over and Over Again

In here, you might just find the answers you're looking for!

If you are new to Bittorrent and/or the anime fansub scene, you should take a look at the Beginner's FAQ as well.

Site information and Basic Help

What makes BakaBT different?

There are many anime torrent sites but BakaBT is unique in the quality of our content. Our goal is to provide torrents only for completed anime or anime-related material and we pick only the best versions. We do not accept public submissions; only Power Users and Power Uploaders may do so.

All submissions are thoroughly checked before they are added to our ever-growing list of series; by ever-growing, we really mean ever-growing in the sense that even old torrents are still seeded. Our mantra in short: quality over quantity, and ease-of-use.

Do keep in mind that BakaBT exists because of its users; old content is still available because of the many dedicated seeders who provide you with good download speeds, so returning the favour is a must.

Before you do anything here at BakaBT, we suggest you read the Rules! There are only a few rules to abide by and most are common sense.

How do I...

Bookmark a torrent or remove a bookmarked torrent?

Click on the star icon labelled 'Bookmark' next to the torrent title at the top of every torrent page. If the star icon appears grey, the torrent is not bookmarked; If it is yellow, the torrent is bookmarked.

On your userpage, the torrents you have bookmarked will show up under the 'Bookmarked' tab (below your 'Uploaded' tab).

Add a torrent to my wishlist?

Click on the scroll icon labelled 'Wishlist' next to the torrent title. If the scroll icon appears grey, the torrent is not in your wishlist; If the scroll appears blue, the torrent is in your wishlist.

On your userpage, the torrents you have put in your wishlist will show up under the 'Wishlist' tab (below your 'Bookmarked' tab).

Get notified on torrent swaps and new comments for a torrent?

Click on the bell icon labelled 'Notify me' next to the torrent title. If the bell icon appears grey, the torrent is not in your notify list; If the bell appears golden, the torrent is in your notify list.

On your userpage, the torrents you have put in your notify list will show up under the 'Notify' tab (below your 'Wishlist' tab).

Report problems that I noticed?

A report is a system message that informs staff members of issues that need attention. Staff members will deal with these issues as they see fit. Only Power users can use the report feature on the tracker.

Reporting Torrents

The report function brings a torrent or a comment to moderators' attention. Use this function if:

A torrent does not comply with site rules (e.g., if it is blacklisted material)
It has corrupted files
The link is broken (i.e., you are unable to download the .torrent file)
Image links are broken (PM the uploader first; if you get no reply after a week then report it). Please note that a single broken image is not grounds for reporting, if all other images conform to the rules. Report if images are of wrong resolution, don't have subtitles or are in the wrong format.
A better version of the torrent exists (Note that we do allow XViD releases. TV fansubs are allowed alongside DVD rips with only R1 subtitles). Please link us to the newer torrent in that case.
Other torrent-related problems (e.g. groupings not set or incorrectly set)
Reporting a torrent for unrelated reasons will incur warnings; and bans will be issued if abuse continues. In other words, don't report a torrent just because you don't like the user, or because you are having trouble getting a good download speed on it.

To report a torrent, click on the exclamation mark icon labelled 'Report' next to the torrent title. If the exclamation mark icon appears grey, the torrent has not been reported; If the exclamation mark appears red, the torrent has been reported (by you or someone else).

Reporting Comments

Report comments if:

They are abusive or contribute to flaming.
They constitute useless spam (such as 'seed this' or 'approve this').
They contain unhidden spoilers for the anime.
They flout any of the tracker guidelines.

To report a comment, click on the exclamation mark icon labelled 'Report' next to the 'Quote' button in the upper-right corner of the comment box. If the icon is labelled 'REPORTED' in capital letters, the comment has been reported to site staff and will be dealt with soon.

Reporting Forum Posts

Report forum posts if:

They are abusive or contribute to flaming.
They contain unhidden spoilers for the anime.
They flout any of the forum guidelines.

The report link for forum posts is at the bottom-right corner of each forum post.

Reporting Stat-Hackers

If you find people with downright impossible torrent statistics, post a link to their userpage in this forum thread and include a reason for suspicion.

Reporting Site Errors

Errors you get with site behaviour (especially if you get error messages) can be reported in the Site Errors forum thread. Read the first post and do a quick search before reporting; someone might have reported the problem already.

Other Reports

Reports regarding other things (that do not have a proper reporting channel) may be reported using the help form. Do not abuse this feature.

Why is some content on the blacklist?

The Blacklist#Torrent Content Upload Guidelines are self-explanatory. We are quite specific about the kind of animation we archive, and also require that they meet certain quality standards.

Stuff on the blacklist is there because it is liable to get BakaBT into *trouble*.

What information about me does BakaBT store? Is it secure?

We store your account information used for registration. your email is hidden from other users, and only shown to site staff.

The amount of upload and download you get on each torrent, as well as your total upload and download, is stored permanently by the server until your account is deleted. These upload and download statistics will always be shown wherever relevant. Torrent stats will be shown in peerlists (if you appear in them), and in your userpage under the relevant columns (if you chose not to hide them).

Information about torrents that you are leeching and/or seeding, as well as torrents you have leeched and/or seeded, are stored on the server. If you have enabled privacy settings, only information for the past 30 days will be kept. If privacy settings are disabled, all prior information is stored on the server.

Account information

How many accounts am I allowed to have?

One. Ever. You are only allowed a single account in your lifetime. What would you do with more than one account anyway? Users who are found with more than one account will have the newest ones disabled and warnings issued. Repeated attempts to create new accounts will result in permanent bans of all accounts from our site.

Can my friends and family use their account on the same computer?

This is highly discouraged, as the system will identify both of you as multi-account users.

What do you do about stat-hackers?

Permanent ban, no appeal. See Why Stat-Hacking on BakaBT is a Losing Proposition for more information.

Registration and Login

I registered an account but did not receive the confirmation e-mail!

Mail can sometimes take up to half a day to be sent out by our server. Please be patient.
Remember to check your spam/trash/etc. folder in case our confirmation mail doesn't appear in your Inbox.
If the mail is nowhere to be found, drop by #bakabt-support on IRC to ask for further assistance.

Alternatively, try another email address (GMail accounts tend to see the most success so far).
Accounts registered using 'disposable' email accounts will be rejected by the server, so do not use those. Get a proper email account.

If you registered for an account and got the confirmation email, but decided you don't like the username you picked, leave the email alone (do not click the confirmation link). Unconfirmed accounts are removed after 3 days so you can try again with a different username.

Help! I cannot login!? (a.k.a. Login of Death)

See: Troubleshooting: Login Issues

Another solution is to visit your settings page.

I've lost my user name or password! Can you send it to me?

Use this form to have the login details mailed back to you (Or click "Lost Password?" beside the login field).

Can you change my username or rename my account?

Users can request their tracker account renamed in our support channel #bakabt-support only once. You are required to state a valid reason for your request, otherwise it will be rejected. Using your real name in your nick is a valid reason; getting tired of your old name is not.

Forum usernames are not renamed.

Note that if your tracker account is renamed, members might have trouble identifying you later (different tracker account name & forum username).

Also the users cannot request existing account names so please check availability before asking.

Forum registration is closed, what do I do?

Your main site account and forum account are linked. However, your forum account needs to be activated via your main site account. To do this, go to your settings page and scroll down to the checkbox that says "Enable Forum Account". Check the box, enter your password in the "Change password field" twice and click "Submit Changes". Your forum account will then be active.

How do I verify if my forum account is active?

There are 2 ways to verify if you've successfully activated your forum account:

After you've enabled the account and saved the changes, the checkbox next to the "Enable Forum Account" field will remain checked and greyed out, followed with "Forum account enabled".
Alternatively you can double-check by clicking the Forum account link from your profile page. If you've activated it successfully you'll see your Forum Profile page, otherwise you'll encounter the following error: "The user whose profile you are trying to view does not exist."

I've confirmed I've activated my account, but every time I try to log in I get the "Wrong Password"

If you are certain you've followed all the steps correctly and have not simply mistyped your password, please use the Help Form to explain your issue and we'll provide you with assistance as soon as possible.

Account Pruning and Deletion

Will my account still exist if I don't use it for a while?

Accounts are pruned after 11 months of disuse (i.e. not logging into the tracker account). Accounts with 0 download and 0 upload are pruned earlier. (See also: "Forum Account").

Donator accounts (people who've donated to BakaBT and received a donator status) have the option of disabling inactivity pruning, and safeguarding their account for as long as they choose.
The option is disabled by default, and can be found in your settings page.

My account is gone! Can you recover it?

Remaking your account

For a limited time we're allowing pruned users who activated their forum accounts to remake their accounts.
All you need to do is, login to your forums account, go to your forum account's profile page, and click the Remake pruned account link
If you forgot your login credentials and have trouble recovering your password join us on IRC
If it's unrecoverable just follow the steps below.

New account creation

Normal registration is not available at this time. We're moving to an invite based system and are conducting interviews to hand out invites at the moment. (See also: "Sign up").

I don't want my account anymore. Can you delete it?

Leave your account alone and it will be pruned after 11 months (See: "Will my account still exist if I don't use it for a while?").

User Classes

What are the different user classes?

Class	Description
User	Normal user, can choose to view hentai, can adopt torrents, can register in our forum. Cannot make torrent offers.
Power User	Higher user, can view peer lists and report bad torrents or comments. Has access to RSS feed. Can make torrent offers. Maximum 5 offer slots available to a power user at any given moment in time.
Uploader	Deprecated and merged with the Power User class.
Power Uploader	These people can upload directly to the torrent pool without requiring moderator approval. These people are appointed by staff if deemed a trustworthy member of the BakaBT community. Don't ask about becoming one.
Moderator/Admins	Appointed by Admins. Don't ask about becoming one.

How do I become a Power User?

Both seed and leech at least 25GB and have a ratio equal to or greater than 0.5 to maintain it.

I just qualified as a Power User, but my status hasn't updated?

User status updates every day. Give it 24-48 hours and use the help form if it still does not update.

Warnings and Bans

I got a warning/was suspended/might be banned, what do I do?

See: "Warnings, Suspensions and Bans"

I got warned but my hard drive crashed/ I got a virus/ Computer got thrown out of window/ Dog ate my homework/ Nobody really likes to leech my hentai/ etc so I lost all my files so I can't seed. Please unwarn me so I can download something to seed...

If you racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt on a credit card and then suddenly lost your main source of income, do you think the credit card company is going to let you off with a debt writeoff (or even reactivate your card for more spending)?

You got yourself into that situation, you'll have to pull yourself out of it.

But I've turned over a new leaf, and I am now a dedicated seeder who will keep his/her torrents running 24/7. Please unwarn me.

If you have indeed turned over a new leaf, prove it by fixing your ratio. We've outlined a few ways for you to do so.

Privacy

Why is my IP displayed on my details page?

Only you and the site staff can view your IP address and email. Other users cannot see that information.

How do I hide torrents on my userpage?

You can edit statistics display level through the settings page, in the User page tab.

Does BakaBT store information on the things I download?

Yes. This is a statistics-tracking site after all, so we store as much information as is needed to implement the features you find on this site. You can hide your torrent statistics, but no requests for deletion of data from our database will be entertained.

Torrent and Tracker Issues

Common Torrent Error Messages

"Finding peers"	"Failure: unregistered torrent pass"
Cause: You are not even looking in the right place to find what the error actually is. Solution: Find the trackers tab in your client, and see what status message is displayed next to the tracker url. Now you can troubleshoot further by referring to torrent error messages.	Cause #1: The tracker can not find a user associated with the torrent pass you're sending it in your announce URL. Solution: Log in to your BakaBT account and re-download the torrent from the site. Cause #2: The torrent is using an expired public key. Note: Public key is only valid until the end of the month. Solution: Re-download the torrent file from the site.
"Failure: unregistered torrent"	"No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it"
Cause: The torrent you downloaded is not/no longer tracked by our tracker. Solution: Check if the torrent has been swapped, replaced or removed. We occasionally prune old obsolete torrents or material that have become blacklisted. If you have checked and verified that it is neither of these causes, then it may be a database error. Report the torrent (click on the exclamation mark beside the torrent title) and let us know. Note that you need to be logged in to your BakaBT account in order to make reports. Note: This message also is present on new offers, since the torrent needs to be approved first in order to be registered with the tracker.	Cause: The tracker is down Solution: Check if the tracker is momentarily offline, you can see the tracker status in the topic title on #BakaBT channel. If it is down, there is nothing you can do except to wait for it to come back up. Leave your client running and stats will update correctly after the tracker is back online. If you stop torrents while it's down, they won't update. If the tracker seems to be online and you're still having the problem, drop by the support channel at #bakabt-support and we'll try to see what the problem actually is.
"Failure: access denied, torrents limit reached"	"Failure: use of this client is not allowed on our tracker, please see whitelisted torrent clients"
Cause: You are downloading too many torrents. Solution: Users are allowed to download 3 torrents at a time. Power Users are allowed to download 10 torrents at a time. You are allowed to seed an unlimited number of torrents, regardless of your class. Check your userpage to see which torrents you are already downloading.	Cause: Your torrent client is not in the whitelist. Solution: Use a torrent client that is in the whitelist. See this forum thread for more information.
"Failure: you are warned, you are not allowed to download, see our wiki for more info"
Cause: Your ratio is too low and your account has been warned. Solution: Seed more and improve your ratio.

Common Torrent-related Problems

Well known site errors

Errors in this section are considered to be well known. This means, other members have reported the error before and BakaBT experts are working to solve the problem or the problem is just temporary. Unless otherwise stated, you don't need to report the error again.

Some torrents on my userpage are listed in wrong tabs

You might see your torrents listed on the tabs where it is not supposed to be, this is a known bug. Examples:

Missing, appearing/disappearing torrents in tabs.
Torrents not in correct tabs
Torrents listed in multiple tabs

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

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 should go away after a few hours.

I am seeing torrents on my userpage that I never downloaded / Someone has hijacked my account

Cause #1: People are using your torrent key (you accidentally posted your torrent key publicly)
Cause #2: You hot-linked to a .torrent file that is tagged with your passkey
Cause #3: You posted a screenshot of your torrent program with your passkey visible
Cause #4: You revealed your torrent passkey to one or more people
Cause #5: You uploaded a .torrent file that has your passkey to another tracker.
Cause #6: You sent a .torrent file that has your passkey to a friend, or hotlinked the torrent download button to him.

Solution: Go to your settings page and generate a new key. All your old torrents will become invalid immediately, so you will have to re-download your torrents. Wait about 10-20 minutes to be sure the tracker has recorded your key change before resuming your torrenting.

To prevent similar issues occurring in future, do not hot-link to our torrent files (only link to the description page), and do not post your personal .torrent file (the one you download when logged in) to other trackers.

I'm uploading or downloading some torrents but I don't see them on my userpage

Cause: You downloaded a public torrent.

Solution: Log in and re-download the torrent.

My stats are not updating. What can I do?

Check that the torrent pass in your client's tracker announce URL matches the one shown on your settings page. If it doesn't (or if it does, but you're still having problems), then: Remove the torrent entries from your torrent client. Re-download the .torrent files and open them in your client. Force a hash recheck and resume activity.

If that doesn't help, go to your settings page and regenerate your torrent pass. Wait about 10-20 minutes to be sure the tracker has recorded your key change, then repeat the above step. Use only official non-beta clients.

Site stats are different compared to my BitTorrent Client for some torrents

Your BitTorrent client is responsible for reporting the torrent upload/download statistics data to the tracker. This data is transmitted in pre-determined intervals (i.e. 30mins) and is incremental which means only the upload/download amount during that period (or successful tracker connections) is sent to the tracker. This mechanism is defined by the BitTorrent Protocol and is not specific to BakaBT. Statistics accuracy is important and is ensured by limiting the BitTorrent clients allowed trough the BakaBT BitTorrent Client Whitelist. The data collected trough the tracker is then reflected to your statistics page on the BakaBT site.

Under normal circumstances, this mechanism works as intended and your statistics for any torrent will be properly sent to the tracker by your BitTorrent client and you will see similar stats on your client and the BakaBT stats page.

However, the following events can prevent this mechanism from working properly

client loses internet connectivity during seeding/leeching (uploading/downloading) and is closed prior to re-establishing a connection
client crashes due to an error or you forcefully terminate it
client cannot connect to the tracker despite retries (it will continue its P2P activity with the last successful peer list received)
tracker might be down for an unknown period of time
your ISP is intervening with your connection to the tracker by manipulating packets
administrative operations on the tracker/site software (data restore, upgrades)

Due to these events, your statistics for a given torrent can be below what you expect it to be. Most BitTorrent clients will transmit the statistics data in the next successful connection when a tracker connection cannot be established immediately given that they are not closed.

How is my traffic tracked?

BakaBT uses a passkey system to identify each user. Your passkey can be found on your settings page. When you announce, your passkey is used to identify you and to (very accurately) track your upload and download traffic, regardless of any IP changes. The passkey is automatically added to the announce URL of every torrent you download whilst logged in. YOU MUST NEVER, EVER GIVE OUT YOUR PASSKEY TO ANY OTHER PERSON. Doing so will result in undesirable outcomes. We will not help to fix any bad ratios caused by user's negligence of the security of their torrent passkey.

What are bonus torrents?

Bonus torrents are torrents with few seeders or few leechers, the idea of the bonus system is to keep older torrents alive. Bonus torrents are marked with bonus torrent icon . When you seed a bonus torrent (and have 100% complete file) you will earn 1 bonus point per hour per bonus torrent. You cannot earn more than 10 bonus points per hour even if you are seeding more than 10 bonus torrents at a time. Note that bonus points can be earned more reliably and much faster through adoptions.

Bonus points can be exchanged for upload credit on the bonus page (this means you can add an amount onto your 'uploaded' stat on your user page).

Bonus status depends on the number of seeders as well as the seeder-to-leecher ratio, and a few other factors. And since the number of seeders and leechers on a torrent can change, a torrent can gain or lose bonus status as well.

Bonus status is checked and updated every hour.

Best practices

If a torrent you are currently leeching or seeding is not listed on your userpage, stop the torrent and resume it again. (also see: I'm uploading or downloading some torrents but I don't see them on my userpage) 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 traffic may not be tracked during downtime but as soon as the tracker is working again then your traffic will be tracked again.

What BitTorrent clients can I use?

See: "Bittorrent Clients"

Can I upload your torrents to other trackers?

Yes. However, only post the public torrent files to other trackers, do not post the .torrent file you downloaded when logged in (otherwise these things might happen). In other words, create a new .torrent file if you intend to upload it to other trackers.

(Of course, the torrent files you download through your torrent client are yours to do as you please.)

Using BakaBT from multiple machines

Can I login from different computers/IPs?

Yes. But you are advised not to log in at the computer of another BakaBT user; the system may identify you as a multi-account user.

Can I seed from different computers/IPs?

Yes, but you may not seed the same torrent from two different computers/IPs as the tracker will not understand how you can be in two places at once, and doing so may cause problems. In the worst case, you may be auto-banned by the tracker.

Freeleech

What is Freeleech?

[F] symbol is used to indicate that a torrent is subject to Freeleech.

When a torrent is flagged with this symbol, it means leeching that torrent will not affect your download amount and will not decrease your ratio. Meanwhile seeding that torrent will continue to improve your ratio and will increase your upload amount. This is an excellent way to improve your ratio.

Torrents with specific type of content (1080p torrents, Artbooks, Music Videos, and torrents smaller than 100 MB) are subject to Freeleech, this is to promote their distribution.

Important: Warned members can not benefit from Freeleech, as they are not allowed to leech.

Note: This behavior is controlled by the BakaBT tracker, this means as long as the torrent is flagged with [F], you can benefit from this feature during leeching even if you have downloaded the torrent file before it is flagged.

How often does global freeleech happen?

Almost never. Don't ask us when it will be happening because we will ignore you.

The tracker went down. What do I do?

You wait until the tracker comes back up.

Why did the tracker go down?

Imagine that you and a friend are working at a restaurant. All of a sudden 130,000+ people come into the restaurant and demand 10+ meals each. Obviously the restaurant can't handle that load and eventually shuts down. During its downtime, it will catch up on orders and eventually re-open. Same principle here, when too many people connect to the server, the server may become overloaded and shut down. Be patient, eventually the server will come back up.

What shouldn't I do?

Do not Manually spam updates on the tracker. It will not help you connect faster; on the contrary, it puts extra strain on the server and may cause more downtime. That means you will not be able to enjoy the full benefits of the freeleech period.
Do not leech only. Part of the purpose of freeleech is to help you improve your ratio. It would be foolish if you leeched and don't seed.

Downloading/Seeding and Connection Issues

Common Questions

What's the difference between seeding and uploading?

Uploading is posting a new torrent to our tracker, where it will appear on the Offered or Browse pages.

Seeding is uploading data to other users on a torrent after you have completed the download.

I don't see the leeching, seeding, seeded torrent tabs in my stats page (anymore)

As of September 29th, 2010 those tabs have been removed. You can see the torrents you are seeding/leeching on the Active tab.

The BitTorrent protocol and clients are not designed to report the individual torrent status information in a way that the previous separate tabs mechanism could work as expected.

I have leeched/downloaded the torrents but some torrents won't seed

Leeching a torrent requires seeders and the number of seeders generally determine how fast you can leech a torrent, higher the number of seeders - higher the download speed. Unfortunately this becomes a problem when you finish downloading the torrent and afterwards intend to seed it back because if there are too many seeders and no (or a small number of) leechers when you are seeding you won't get a chance to seed.

An option is to continue seeding those torrents as much as possible and wait for the ratio for that torrent to reach 1.5 or alternatively you can download other torrent with more potential to seed (popular torrents with many leechers)

I have some files on my computer, how do I seed them or upload them to BakaBT?

See: "I've finished downloading the files, so how do I seed back?" and "Why can't I offer new torrents?"

Why do I have to wait before I can download a new torrent?

When new torrents are uploaded, those with Power User (or higher) status are given 'first dibs'. By virtue of their good share ratio we trust that these users will stick around to help seed the torrent after they benefit from having exclusive access to the initial seeders. Other users must wait for the timer to expire before they can download the .torrent file.

The amount of time you have to wait is proportional to the size of the torrent (the larger the torrent, the longer you have to wait). This is to encourage more people to become Power Users, and to build up a larger seed base before other users are permitted to join the swarm.

Why did an active torrent suddenly disappear?

The torrent may have been replaced by a superior offer.
The uploader may have requested for its deletion, with an acceptable reason(s).
The torrent was requested to be removed by a 3rd party (usually in the form of a cease-and-desist letter).

It happens from time to time and we regret that no alerts will be given prior to deletion. If this is unacceptable, we suggest that you get your files from other public trackers (such as Anirena, Minglong or Nyaa) instead, where torrents are less likely to be removed.

What is a torrent passkey?

See: How is my traffic tracked?

I lost all my files, and I can't download or seed, help!

See: Fixing Your Ratio

Connectivity and Speed Issues

If your question falls under any of these categories:

Cannot access BakaBT
Port number is '---'/other port-related issues
Proxying and proxies
Dynamic/static IPs and NAT
Slow downloading/uploading

Kindly refer to the Troubleshooting section for more information.

Torrenting Issues

I can't leech/seed a torrent

If the BakaBT tracker is preventing you from leeching/seeding a torrent, it will inform your client in the form of error messages through the trackers tab/pane. Look at the tracker status and refer to FAQ#Common Torrent Error Messages

I'm having trouble with this Bittorrent program, something's wrong with it

Do a search in the Help section of the forums, and see if someone else has faced the same issue.

If yours is a unique case, make a new post in the same section. Give clear and detailed information, and include links to the torrents you are having trouble with.

Note: We only provide help for whitelisted torrent clients. Support for other clients will not be provided.

What do I do if a torrent has no seeds?

Hop on the forums and post in the Reseed Request section. Be sure to read the rules before posting.

I've finished downloading the files, so how do I seed back?

See: "Seeding"

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

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

If you just want to fix it reboot your computer, it should solve the problem. Otherwise, see "What's this "IOError - [Errno13] Permission denied" error?".

Downloading or seeding is slow! How do I speed it up?

See: "Troubleshooting: Speed Issues".

Torrent Offers and Adoptions

Torrent Offer System

What does 'New' mean?

Newly offered torrents are not registered with the tracker until they are approved. Until then, they will not be available for download.
The time it takes for torrent approval varies and is dependent upon many different factors, so a reliable estimate cannot be given.

What does 'Semi-approved' mean?

Offers require the approval of two staff members before they are added to the tracker. 'Semi-approved' is the state an offer acquires when at least one staff member has granted it, but it is pending further approval.

What is 'On hold' status?

Pending notification for all offers that require more work. On hold status is usually followed with a reason.
Offers on hold are no longer counted on the 'Offered' page.

Why can't I offer new torrents?

Only Power Users can make new torrent offers, which will be granted or rejected by staff. Torrents offered by staff members and Power Uploaders are added to the torrent pool directly without going through the approval procedure. Non-Power Users can not make offers.

Is there a limit to the amount of offers I can make?

As a Power User you can offer a maximum of 5 torrents. When that limit has been reached you'll have to wait for staff to inspect one of your pending offers.

Why are rejected torrents in the Recently rejected section?

For rejected torrents, we will prune them after a minimum of 7 days, maximum of 30 days on the "recently rejected" list. While the torrents are in the recently rejected list, it will still occupy a slot on the uploader's account.
Please refrain from asking the admins or mods to prune the torrents before time.

I have another question related to torrents and offers

If it is any of the following questions:

What can I offer/not offer to BakaBT?
I have files that I would like to upload, how do I upload them here?
What should I put in the description?
How should I name my files?
What are good keywords for my torrent?
Why does it say "This torrent contains improper files, please swap the torrent file" on the torrent page?
What are "extra files" and what should I add?
How do I attach extra files?
What should I put in my torrents?
What is this torrent swapping feature?

Kindly see: "How to make an offer"

Torrent Adoption System

Why should I adopt a torrent?

You adopt because the (faulty) description of a torrent does not sit right with you, and you have the irresistible urge to fix it, put it right and provide accurate information for future users of BakaBT who will chance upon said torrent.

Note: The adopter effectively becomes the new owner of the torrent. As such, he/she is expected to carry out the usual duties of the torrent owner. They'll be responsible for re-seeding the torrent if it dies (so adopters must have the torrent files), keep descriptions up to date, and make torrent swaps where necessary. Torrent adopting is not stamp-collecting.

Note 2: Many users are under a false impression that adopting torrents will inadvertently fix your ratio or give you freeleech right even if you are warned. This is false.
Only seeding can increase your ratio, and by adopting you are assumed to already have the files you planning to adopt and therefore seed.

What should I do to ensure that my adoption request will be granted?

Submit a proper reason for adoption. Tell us what you are going to fix, what you will add, what you will do with the torrent. If the reason for adoption is "I will fix the torrent", we're not likely to be convinced. Look at the checklist below for things that you need to point out in your request.
It helps if you have a portfolio.
- Users who consistently submit good torrent descriptions (by adopting, or making torrent offers) will obviously be trusted more than users without said portfolio. So if you already have torrents in your Uploaded tab, do take a look at them and work on those first before adopting new torrents.
- If you are a new user with no prior experience do not worry, we will sit you through the description-editing process and help you bring it up to speed, all you need is a willingness to learn and dedication to the adoption process.
Seed the torrent. While owners are not expected to seed the torrent files 24/7, being a seed on the peerlist gives us the assurance that you have the files are will be able to re-seed the torrent as and when the need arises.

Checklist for adoptions

Are the links working?

Are all images being displayed correctly?

Are all images hosted on BakaShots?

Is all information correct and complete for that release?

Is there a higher quality release?

Are you seeding the torrent you wish to adopt?

What do I need to do after I adopt a torrent?

Bring it up to date, in accordance with the torrent description content guidelines.
Keep tabs on it, and re-seed the torrent if it dies (has 0 seeders).

That sounds complicated, can you help me?

In general, we will give advice when needed, but first you should check out this guide. It covers most of what you'll ever need!

Bonus points bounty for a successful adoption

Upon successful completion of an adoption, depending on the work you've invested, you'll either get 1/10th of the bounty (for minimal or no changes, if none are required), the full bounty, 1.5 x the bounty for a really good job, or 2.5 x the bounty for excellent work.
The amount you receive is, of course, at the supervising mod's discretion.

What if I want to replace the torrent files with a better, superior version?

Make a new torrent offer, and add a comment, giving the URL of the torrent you wish to replace. The adoption system is meant for fixing torrents, not replacing them.

Is there an RSS feed available for BakaBT?

RSS Feeds are only available for Power Users. You will see the RSS Feed link appear when you become one.

To get fast updates on newly approved torrents alternatively you can join #BakaBT where all new approvals are announced by our bot.

Can I add an RSS feed in my torrent client?

No. RSS feature is purely for informative purpose, automatic torrent leeching via RSS is not supported.

How can I get an avatar on the Blog?

Wordpress has its own Avatar-System with which you can have the same avatar on all Wordpress-Blogs you have an account on.

For this you have to go to Gravatar and sign up with your e-mail address with which you created your account on the blog Wait for the e-mail with the activation-key, click on the link and enter the needed information.

After logging in click on "Add one by clicking here", choose the location of the avatar and resize the box to fit your avatar. Now you only have to choose a rating for it and you are finished.

What if I can't find the answer to my problem here?

So, after reading all that, you still can't find a solution? Read on. Post in the forums, by all means. You'll find it's a friendly and helpful place, provided you follow a few basic guidelines:

You might have missed a few wiki pages. Did you know we also have the following wiki pages?

Make sure your problem has not been answered in this FAQ. There's no point in posting just to be sent back here amidst a torrent of angry remarks telling you not to waste other people's time.
Before posting, read the stickied topics (the ones at the top of each subforum page). Many times, new information that still hasn't been incorporated in the FAQ can be found there.
Help us in helping you. Do not just say "it doesn't work!". Provide details so that we don't have to guess or waste time asking. What client do you use? What's your OS? What's your network setup? What's the exact error message you get, if any? What are the torrents you are having problems with? The more details you give the easier it will be for us, and the more likely your post will get a useful reply, as opposed to a reply that just asks for more information.
PLEASE make an effort to make your posts readable. There is nothing worse than trying to decipher a post that looks like it was written by someone mashing their face on the keyboard. Perfect spelling isn't necessary, but basic grammar and punctuation definitely helps.
... and needless to say: be polite. Demanding help rarely works. Asking nicely for it usually does the trick.
DO NOT send a private message to a staff member. If you don't wish to post in the forums, use the help form instead, or ask on the IRC channel.
To prove that you have read this FAQ before seeking help, please quote the words 'Amorphous Plate Wiggle' in your post. We are quite serious. Failure to do so will result in your thread being locked immediately or your help request being ignored. This phrase is subject to change.

FAQ: Difference between revisions