Once you’re done downloading, you become a “seeder” and you continue to upload to other peers. Trackers route little pieces of data, or packets, to downloaders and assist them in connecting to their fellow peers-as you download chunks of files, you also upload them to other people who have different chunks of the file, and because everybody’s sharing with each other while downloading, it tends to zip along quickly. In this article, we’re going to use this more general definition to avoid confusion with whatever you may find yourself on the internet. Since most indexers have their own private tracker, most people just refer to them both as trackers. TrackersĪ “tracker” is a server that assists in directing peers, initiated downloads, and maintaining statistics. These usually take the form of a forum and/or an IRC channel.
When you want to share, download, or request files, the indexer’s community is where you go. An “indexer” is a site that compiles a list of torrents and descriptions and is a place where users form a community (with rules!) around BitTorrent content.
