Have used LW for years (purchased Pro 2 weeks ago), using XP XP2 on Gateway. Noticed several months ago that I was no longer uploading to anyone. Have always been very careful to share, not cut off uploaders, etc., and had many users/uploaders that were repeat "customers" even though my connection speed would be considered prehistoric by most of the rest of the P2P world.

I am in a very rural area and definitely considered a "hostage" by my ISP provider (as in no choice, no options, no alternatives). Since I have made no changes to my LW preferences in regard to sharing or bandwidth, firewalls or antivirus software, should I assume my provider is somehow responsible?

I have not noticed any other changes in communication abilities or outgoing items.

I would detest being considered a freeloader or non-sharer, any suggestions how to fix within my own sytem settings or where to look in LW for the difficulty?

Do you see the firewall icon (brick wall in front of the blue globe)?

In LW go tools > options > bug reports > view example. Scroll down to 'recieved incoming this session'...if it's true then other computers can connect to you & so other people should be be to download (and you'll see uploads).
If it's false, then it usually means there's a firewall problem somewhere that's preventing other people from connecting to you.

Try deleting LW's preferences folder when LW's properly closed. See point 3 here & also point 2 if you've used older versions of LW in the past (there could be a folder in either location).
Fixes for LimeWire
This will change all of your settings within options, you'll have to go back through afterwards & reset things. If you're not sure of your settings, go through LW's tools > options & write them all down, so that you can reset things later.

You could also try changing ports...in LW tools > options > advanced > firewall config. Change LW's listening port to 65000, or try any port numbers in the range of 49152 - 65535 > apply > ok.

If that doesn't help, please give us your system details & we can look at some other things to try
System details - help us to help you -> Provide these details when you post!!!