I'm new to these forums but I wanted to share some of my views on sharing files.

For me, I set my client to download many files at once, knowing full well that if I'm lucky, I might get one or two per day fully completed. I leave the service on almost all the time and have it set for 3-4 simultaneous uploads at 1 file each.

My problem is that I have one computer (notebook with 18Gb capacity) pretty much dedicated to this function while I'm away. When I'm home, it also serves as my main workstation. Most of the files I download are video-related, however I do have several games and utilities as well.

FILE SIZES & LIMITED STORAGE
With the size of files I'm working with, and the limited storage I have in relation to those file sizes, I can't keep increasing my shared collection size indefinitely without running out of space and crippling the performance of my computer. Eventually, some of those shared files will have to be relocated or deleted.

VALUE OF FILES IN A COLLECTION
Depending on the nature of a file's contents, it's value to me may differ greatly. Files which I wish to keep for a long time will stay in my collection, however again we come to the argument about limited storage space -- it can't go on forever without consequences. Usually these files may end up on CD-R. Files which I have a moderate interest in (say a song or a movie), depending on the subject may get one listen or viewing. If it's crap, I'll delete it (hence removing it from the shared collection) -- again, I can't afford to overload my storage. If it's something I might want to keep, perhaps CD-R. A consumers we need to realize that the value of any particular file is not static - it's fluid. It changes over time, and that value may directly impact how long it stays in a shared collection.

PARTICIPACTION
One thing I try to do is leave as many seeming popular files in the shared collection as long as possible. I even keep mental notes on which files get uploaded the most and try to give people as much opportunity to share what I have available, as long as it doesn't impact too much on my own utility of my computer. As the storage fills up, I have to make judgement calls on what to keep and what to turf from the collection to make room for new downloads. Sometimes that means removing a very popular file. There have even been the odd occasion where I've had to halt someone's upload midstream (and remove one or more shared files) because my new downloaded files were so numerous that I again was close to overloading my harddrive. Sure I felt bad about it, but what can I do (I use Gnotella)? I wouldn't like that if someone did it to me (and I'm sure they have on numerous occasions for whatever reasons).

DEFRAGMENTATION
Recently I discovered that my harddrive was severly fragmented and the notebook's overall performance was drastically getting worse. The harddrive was so full, there was not enough empty space to use as temporary working space -- hence the defragmentation process never completed. I had to relocate and remove massive amounts of files elsewhere temporarily just to get the defrag to complete. I also took that opportunity to cull several large files from my collection to make room for potential new downloads.

All I'm saying is that the issue of sharing files is not cut & dry. It goes beyond the issue of some people not wanting to share.

~Artedium