TL;DR - 1. How do most PT’s track ratios? is it always by IP address or are there other methods. Asking bc IP address seems like it would be an issue on VPN. 2. Do all PT’s operate on ratios or are there other systems? 3. Which PT’s are best for competition and education tv shows? 4. other options besides PT’s?

1. In general, do Private trackers require you to reveal IP address or some other info that could be used to track real world identity (even temporarily)? Some online recs for ABB alternatives included myanonamouse.net but rule “1.2 Duplicating IP Addresses” sounded VERY anti-VPN / anti-privacy to me and got me wondering if this is something all private trackers do as a method for tracking ratios via IP address or if it is just some of them. Not sure what the BT protocol supports, but seems like using public/private keys or some other equally anon method could be used instead of IP address for tracking stats if privacy was a main goal. If IP address based tracking isn’t the norm, then how are ratios generally tracked on PT that let you remain completely anon?

2. Do all private trackers require maintaining ratios or is that misconception on my part? I’m just an average home user and like a lot of people my ISP imposes a monthly bandwidth cap. I don’t mind sharing but I also don’t plan on paying for something like a seedbox - if I’m going to spend money, I would probably look into some other option that doesn’t require any effort on my part. Maybe usenet or real debrid? I haven’t explored either of these in as much depth as I would like (so far).

3. Aside from looking for redundant alternatives to nyaa, ABB, irchighway, and libgenesis, the main content I’m having a hard time finding on public trackers is “educational” tv shows. Some documentaries are ok but I mostly mean non-fiction, non-reality-tv shows like like home improvement/gardening/animals/history/engineering/science/firearms/crafting/etc. Don’t want to break rule 3 by mentioning any specific names but for example, a competition show that focused on crafting and had eliminations based on design or implementation flaws rather than how a competitor’s crafted product looked would be right up my alley. I might also like a competition show that focuses on blue-collar workers. And pretty much anything related to archery/firearms, home improvement, maker, or outdoor challenges is usually fair game. Are there any private trackers (or usenet/real debrid/etc) that specialize in this kind of thing or are at least are more likely to have that kind of content than public trackers? I’m mostly interested in pirate sites for new and existing tv shows but am open to hearing about new youtube channels and the like that match my description too.

4. If there is another option besides public or private trackers that seems relevant to my questions, please feel free to enlighten me…

If it matters, I usually prefer smaller file sizes with x264/x265 encodes. I generally prefer 480p or 720p releases since I sometimes watch from mobile and family doesn’t really care about resolutions over 720p anyway (I generally avoid downloading anything over 1080p).