Dimeadozen protocol error 4

[Kwong]

DIMEadozen tells me: protocol error 4, no/erroneous BT client listening
My port is verified to be open.
v4.6.3
This is killing my ratio, anyone know what is going on?

Thanks

[Peter]

Hmm the website / tracker software won't affect your seeding.
Seeding is just hard on some sites.

Like we don't discuss piracy here but I've seen sites before (now defunct) where I had 1000+ torrents running and I could not seed up like 1GB after weeks. If it's one of those sites, I'd recommend getting a seedbox and just buffering up. Obviously you have to seed your downloaded stuff once you buffer up too to keep the site and files alive. But if it's just for the stats/rules, buffering up is totally normal.

[Kwong]

One needs an active connection (by opening the port) to seed to everyone. My port is open. There is an old thread describing this same issue but without a solution. I am assuming it is a client or client setting issue. While I have used qbittorent for other sites, I am now trying to use it for Dime as well since my virus software is deleting utorrent 2.2.1 even when in the allow list. Utorrent always worked fine. BTW, Dime does not have pirated material - it is totally legit.

[bob2306]

One needs an active connection (by opening the port) to seed to everyone. My port is open.

So what's the problem?

[Fuga]

Dime simply does not like qBittorrent. Their FAQ has a list of accepted/approved clients and a list of banned clients. qBittorrent is not on either list. They also have a category 'All other clients' in which they say "we neither block it nor recommend it", hence qB is that error's "erroneous BT client",

[mgoldey]

Yes, this is a problem with Dime, which shows peers as "firewalled" even though they are not. I have been seeing this for years. Protocol Error 4 is not the Dime tracker's response to clients that do not appear on the list of recommended clients, however. AFAIK, this error message from Dime happens only with qBittorrent and some older versions of uTorrent, and there are and have been many other clients over the years. (Obviously, I have not tried all of them.)

Nor is it an issue with port forwarding: the client's listening port is open. It is a communication problem between the Dime tracker and qBittorrent. I can't say where the problem lies, but in fact, it results in other Dime peers being unable to connect. The two firewalled clients cannot exchange data, even if one is not actually firewalled. That does not seem like a tracker error.

I have occasionally seen the same behavior at other trackers where I have some admin rights and can see IP / port info and can determine that the other peer is in fact firewalled (using nmap or canyouseeme.org). Of course, those trackers do not report "Protocol Error 4" so it's surmise that the failure mode is the same. But all of this makes me wonder whether Qbittorrent could be the culprit in some fashion.

It would be great to understand what circumstances generate the error, whatever the reason turns out to be.