Display files in searches and browsed shares only to people who share
There has been a lot of debate in the past about non-sharers and banning. I feel like the amount of non-sharers on the program is out of control. I realize I could switch my files to userlist only, but I have had open shares since 2001 or 2002. There is also the option to make private files available in the searches and when people browse you. That effectively seems like trading access to me. I wouldn't want to receive hundreds of "can you please add me?" type of requests daily. I don't want a userlist of thousands of users. I want to share my files freely with everybody...but only with people who actually make an effort to share. Why should people who actually share not have access to my files?
While there are multiple options for people to restrict their files, there's really nothing that people like myself with open shares can do about the non-sharers. They eat up a substantial amount of bandwidth. It has been stated in the past that 26% of users have no files shared. It's probably closer to 40% in my case. I typically see 150-200 of those empty share warnings sent out on a daily basis. This doesn't even include the people who have empty folders set up (who apparently don't receive the messages) or people who are sharing only their Qt/imageformats or samples folders. I do think the empty share warnings convert some people into file sharers who "forget" to add their folders. Let's be honest, though. There's little incentive for many people to share anything. If they get banned/unshared, they just move on to the next person. For every 1 person who may eventually set up their shares, there's 10 more who join the program and share nothing. It's a never-ending cycle. I would imagine the percentage of non-sharers stays about the same.
My suggestions would be to show no search results to the people who have no files shared. This could be a user set option like the private shared files. They could have a message displayed in the search results encouraging them to share with instructions on how to do it. If somebody browses your files and has nothing shared, they could receive the same message. I think it would be a win-win situation if more people had the incentive to share. I would bet that the amount of non-sharers would drop significantly and more people who restrict their files to userlist only would be more open to sharing with everybody.
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Non-shares aren't out of
Non-shares aren't out of control imho that's a bit of a stretch. Just unshare your files from those you wish. It's easy with the right click Unshare option. How often do you feel like you need to address this in your daily SSQt life? Decent suggestion though. Education messages may actually improve the community in some way I guess.
If you had open shares and
If you had open shares and left your connection running 24/7, maybe you would feel the same way. I'm not exaggerating when I say there's that many non-sharers. I have shown Nir the logs.
My bandwidth has been basically uncapped in recent years, but it won't be in upcoming months. That's why I'm making the suggestion. I don't think I'm the only one who feels this way. Unsharing doesn't really help when it's after the fact. There's the same amount of non-sharers every day.
Interesting. How do you find
Interesting. How do you find the log that shows how many 'you arent sharing files' messages your client sends out? I'm curious now to check mine. I'm certainly intrigued by the idea of returning no share-people zero results. But as long as they are made aware like "HEY YOU ARENT SHARING and so YOU CANT SEARCH". But have it be nice sounding :)
You can view the empty share
You can view the empty share warnings in the Diagnostics - Shared tab. Mine fills up pretty quickly... like honey attracts bears.
My issue is not that the non-sharers receive no search results at all. I just don't want my files displayed.
So a choice for users to
So a choice for users to 'elect' to hide their shares from non-sharers' searches? Hmm I see what you mean. That may work but I still feel as though if that does get implemented, then SS MUST somehow have a pop up (one time only or reminder) to those with no shares folders or files saying "look remember now, you may not be seeing all available files until you search" or something. Otherwise I worry about the balance of people like you who want to protect their files and share with only sharers, and those who just have no F'ing idea what they are missing out on by NOT sharing. :)
I agree that more could be
I agree that more could be done to educate and help users to share. Perhaps SLSK could automaticaly seek and add folders on installation then offer a dialog asking if there are other folders, or types of files such as ebooks, videos, etc, the user would like to add. Repeat occasionally until the user is sharing.
So a choice for users to
So a choice for users to 'elect' to hide their shares from non-sharers' searches?
Spot on, a CHOICE. Users should be able to select whether they actually want to do this or not.
So if at all, make it optional. Don't force it onto users by hard-coding it.
Ways to deal with "quotas"
Hi all; I'd imagine a few ways to equalize the behaviour:
a) a min amount of files needed to DL from (like the max Q size/amount)
b) Quotas on UL (of the downloader) /DL (of the sender) ratio (Take the info from the User info) so non UL are not rewarded by fast speed
with the still File-Browse problems (rescan_Share so the Fileshare is again browseable) in SLSK, a) could create a lot of denials until the SLSK client is working (but that'd solve the browse problem as well), depending if the Q manager is actively browsing
b) would be quite fair as UL get's rewarded and DL depends on them on the sender, so not so easily faked and only private sharers still are not lost.
a) and b) in combination 'd make a big addon as sharing plattform, but surely a bit of coding and a lot of debugging until the right Algorithm is found that serves the most.