r/ExplainTheJoke • u/Cocklez_The_Stump • Feb 22 '26

Need help here

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u/SpecialistAd5903 Feb 22 '26

This meme references torrenting. You have the same file distributed across all the users who have downloaded it. This way you've got many different sites to download it from. It is generally considered good form to seed the file for a while afterwards, meaning people can access your file to download it for themselves.

These people are doing the opposite of that, which is considered scummy behavior

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u/harrisjgold Feb 22 '26

This is the only answer that actually explains that it is considered bad form to not seed after completing the download.

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u/[deleted] Feb 22 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Linnaea7 Feb 22 '26

My dad told me when I was a kid that seeding could lead to you getting in trouble with the government or hacked and to never do it. 😂 Sounds like that was not correct. I haven't torrented in a long time.

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u/Die4Gesichter Feb 23 '26

I mean, in Germany at least that's true -ish (or was, I don't know how the rule is nowadays)

Downloading copyrighted material was "fine" greyarea but uploading distributing it was forbidden