Posts by Sid

21) Message boards : Promotion : How can we address BOINC's retention problem? (Message 18265) Posted 7 Jul 2008 by Sid Post: Also, i think the standard BOINC projects thoroughly fail mostly to convey how much work was done by the members.... not just the credits.... tell of the results and the cpu time.... tflops is such a hmmm value for anyone not into computing. Agreed, the average BOINCer must realize that HIS/HER contribution [and several 100K like them], even if it is only a few hours a day on a single core computer, is the real strength of the BOINC system. The highly visible and vocal group of frothers with enough overclocked servers to heat an office building form a tiny minority. This vast majority of BOINC participants need to be convinced that their contribution matters and that participation, contribution and a feeling that what they are doing is significant are what is important. . . . . . leave the back alley, broken bottle competitions to the few who are so inclined.
22) Message boards : Promotion : How can we address BOINC's retention problem? (Message 18259) Posted 6 Jul 2008 by Sid Post: I think we should compile as much information about this topic as we can. We need to think of all the possible reasons why people leave BOINC projects and study the information. John: I believe we would do better to examine why people get involved in BOINCing in the first place. I believe that people get involved in BOINC projects with many motives, some being: They are interested, even excited, about the underlying science. They feel that they are making a difference and participating in real, relevant scientific research. They want to contribute to worthwhile causes and BOINC provides an avenue. They are technojunkies and BOINC proves that size matters. They have time and computers on their hands, and BOINC provides a little bubblegum for the mind and excuses to buy more computers. The want to explore online social networking and BOINC teams stroke those people. They join teams to network with people with similar interests and to participate in competitions. I believe the real reasons why people get into BOINCing resolve down to their desire to participate, to contribute, to come away with a sense of individual accomplishment and sense of purpose. The more we can identify and stroke these motivating factors and minimize the negative factors, the higher our retention factors will be.
23) Message boards : Promotion : How can we address BOINC's retention problem? (Message 18251) Posted 5 Jul 2008 by Sid Post: Perhaps when electricity isn't so expensive, people aren't going on summer holidays, houses aren't washed away by hurricanes/tornados/levees breaking, etc. etc. Otherwise, why? Seems to me that it is futile to promote BOINC only to watch 75% leave. Seriously, we need to explore why roughly 3 out of 4 people who register for BOINC just walk away from it.
24) Message boards : Projects : Riesel Sieve? (Message 18249) Posted 5 Jul 2008 by Sid Post: Does anyone know what has happened to rieselsieve? I haven't had any contact in over 5 days and the web site is not reachable. Bob: There has been some discussion of RS on the shoutbox at BOINCstats, I don't attentively keep up with the situation, but apparently the RS admins had to move their server/s/ to another location. The information that might be helpful is towards the end of this thread.
25) Message boards : Promotion : How can we address BOINC's retention problem? (Message 18248) Posted 5 Jul 2008 by Sid Post: Currently BOINC boasts of 1,417,601 registered members, but only 342,528 can be categorized as active. That a problem that needs to be addressed.
26) Message boards : Promotion : BOINC for unusual devices ? (Message 18143) Posted 1 Jul 2008 by Sid Post: Hi friends, I just got an idea ... out there is a lot (a very large lot) of devices that run based on some kind of linux, permanently running and most of the time idling lazy around. What I mean are i.e. such devices like DSL modems (i.e. AVM Fritz!Box), routers, and other thingies pretending to be simple.. These boxes are around in numerous quantities, stay online most of the time - almost all of the 24/7 I presume - and most of the time they are lazy. And in the case of DSL modem boxes, they are online 24/7 ! Did anybody thing about hooking a BOINC client into them ? The only obstacle I find - besides of low ressources in one or another box - is the lack of any display ... that would require a BOINC manager able to manage a remote client or a web browser interface within the client. Any comment to that concept ? Seneca At one time, I considered running BOINC on my son's PS3, but just in playing video games it gets uncomfortably warm. I can just imagine how hot it would get running at 100% processor utilization. Burning up a PS3 and having to buy them another, or buying a quadcore that is designed for this purpose wasn't a difficult choice.
27) Message boards : Teams : BOINCstats: Looking for a few Team Players (Message 18141) Posted 1 Jul 2008 by Sid Post: Besides keeping statistics on all BOINC projects, teams and participants and having one of the busiest message boards around, BOINCstats recently passed the 100M mark in total team credit and is in sixth place in the PrimeGrid Challenge. More great news is that BOINCstats is currently in 15th place in the SIMAP Scramble, up from 43rd in just two months. I believe Top 10 ranking after this month's competition is over is within sight. BOINCstats is ranked #51 among 75K+ teams and is approaching another milestone: 600 members, a goal that should be reached this month. BOINCstats also has a balanced presence and often top 20 ranking over a wide spectrum of BOINC projects. . . . all in all, a growing dynamic group!
28) Message boards : Promotion : Post your ideas for promoting BOINC (Message 18110) Posted 29 Jun 2008 by Sid Post: John: I have been lurking on this site for the last hour or so and one thing that needs to be worked on to attract [and retain] the interest of the newbies is to move away from the technojargon and strive to be more newbie friendly. I agree!! But even the most basic things in BOINC are explained using technical jargon. John: Early in my BOINCing experience, I found this link. I haven't found a more helpful guide to BOINC anywhere, bar none. More newbies need to have access to this resource.
29) Message boards : Promotion : Post your ideas for promoting BOINC (Message 18103) Posted 29 Jun 2008 by Sid Post: ... Since this website doesn't support embedding videos, I will link to this parallel thread: Using YouTube to help explain BOINC and it's projects I think it should read: Using YouTube to help explain BOINC and its projects Gundolf: I stand corrected
30) Message boards : Promotion : Post your ideas for promoting BOINC (Message 18101) Posted 29 Jun 2008 by Sid Post: John: I have been lurking on this site for the last hour or so and one thing that needs to be worked on to attract [and retain] the interest of the newbies is to move away from the technojargon and strive to be more newbie friendly. The real strength and promise of BOINC isn't those participants with enough computing assets to heat an office building, but the vast majority with a computer or two who wants to share their spare computer cycles for a worthwhile cause. Individual accomplishment and sense of purpose should be the BOINC operative force. Since this website doesn't support embedding videos, I will link to this parallel thread: Using YouTube to help explain BOINC and it's projects

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