Transmission does not download from peers

[cpt_chris]

I have different torrents from several trackers that have multiple peers to which I'm connected, yet my downloads will not start. Completed torrents that are seeding (of which i have 1,700) continue to seed but I can't begin progress of any new torrents. Magnet links gather the data needed but do not begin as they should. I was able to download the same torrents through uTorrent, barring firewall/connection/ISP issues. The problem remains even with a direct ethernet connection to my modem.

I tried removing my cache, preferences and application support files. This erases my torrent progress (along with transmission's resume folder) and my statistics but oddly I am unable to clear Transmission's preferences. I have removed the org.m0k.transmission.plist files (and anything m0k), deleted the app, emptied the Trash, even used AppZapper but still when I re-install and run Transmission (even the most recent nightly build) my preferences (speed limit, group tags) remain and I am still unable to get data from connected peers. I'm guessing this has to do with messed up Transmission preferences or something? How can I fix this? thanks!

[metaclam]

Same issue and nearly the same steps taken. See:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=16407&p=69167#p69167

edit: bah, grrr! in my case it was my hosts file! above linked topic edited.