Everyone could easily seed 2:1 if they wanted to

This is literally impossible, which is the point parent poster is making. Seed:leech is always 1.0, for every uploaded chunk there must be a willing downloader on the other side.

The more seeders >1.0 a torrent has, the harder it is for other people to reach 1. Rewarding obscene ratios (as TL does with literal "achievements") creates a toxic scenario where everyone is scrambling for a limited commodity in a zero-sum scenario.

If you want to play the "0.8 ratio required" game then a seeder should be forcefully removed from a healthy swarm once they reached some threshold around 1.2-1.5. If you want "high quality seeds" to stay connected, the "required" ratio should be dropped accordingly. But you cannot simultaneously have everyone "contribute evenly" with 0.8 and also award ratios of >5.0 etc.

Your "freeleech for weeks, get upload credit" "trick" just takes advantage of the 10-day seed time HnR timer. In short, it works because of their arbitrary silly rules, not because you're contributing to the total health of the torrent swarms.