New to the site and have been trying the following method whereby I only download some of the files within a large freeleech torrent (e.g. 18gb plus torrent but I only select about 3gb to download). But I noticed that the torrent once downloaded shows as leeching rather than seeding and it doesn't seems to help with the ratio

So does this method actually work?

I think you're confused about something.

First: there are only 3 ways to get "upload credit" here:

1. Actually upload data to other users (seeding - with connections), or
2. Trade in Seed Bonus Points - several ways to get them, but 600 SBP is only 10GB upload credit, or
3. Use the Donate button at the top of the Torrent site page

Also, FREELEECH means exactly what the name implies: when you download a torrent's contents while it is in FREELEECH mode, the downloaded bytes do not count against your ratio.

• All downloaded data (bytes) are tracked (some are used to compute your downloaded data summary, some are not - all are tracked)
• Partial uploads & downloads count, just exactly as full upload and download bytes... data transferred is data transferred (even if you're downloading the same data multiple times)

Finally: the definition of a SEEDER is someone who has all of the contents of a torrent and is sharing them via the tracker. Partially downloaded torrents are not "all" there, so if you didn't complete the torrent, you'll never be a seeder (only a leecher). That does NOT mean you can't share what parts you have - and if you do, you'll get upload credits for that data - but you will NOT get "seed bonus points" until you're actually a seeder.

I hope this helps...