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[Discussion] 4th Generation BOINC credit system
(Message 71018)
Posted 26 Jul 2016 by zero Post: I'm not sure if this is a dead discussion or not, so I apologize, but I feel the need to post some input. I have just discovered BOINC through Gridcoin, and it's a shame I hadn't discovered it earlier, but there are reasons for that. When BOINC was first introduced, I was in middle school. Looking at Google trends, the publicity of BOINC has declined since 2005, and not being a part of the scientific community, I don't know when I would have encountered it. Now that I've discovered it, I think it's one of the greatest things I could contribute to. It's a centralized group of causes that I can get behind. I have a gaming rig and a work computer, and I finally feel like they are living their potential. And because of Gridcoin, it's not just a win- it's a win-win. It helps me justify my contribution, when I am not really in a position to be donating money or time at this point in my life. The fact is, I hope that the payoff is at least breakeven, but I'm okay with losing money because it aligns with my core beliefs. And the reality is, I'm sure this will be the case with most of the participants on the Gridcoin team. The average person isn't in the position to justify running up their electric bill or taking the time to monitor their computer cycles. Especially if they aren't already scientifically or technically inclined. But that doesn't mean their contribution isn't helpful or needed. And it doesn't mean that they wouldn't be willing or enthusiastic about being a part of the greater BOINC community, if given a minimal incentive. Egilman, I completely understand your sentiment. You have been doing for a long time here what you are seeing some people come in and do in the hopes of making money. It seems to taint the feeling of community around contributing selflessly to projects that may change the world. I know that there are definitely people with the wrong, and even malevolent intentions that are and will be associated with Gridcoin, and they may not have entered this space without it. But this quote struck me: Individual contribution to science is dying out to the corporate/government sponsored and financed conglomerate. I think this is an accurate statement, but even further I don't think the average individual has ever had a chance to meaningfully contribute to a greater scientific effort. Again, most people don't have the time or resources. It's an unfortunate fact that science takes money. This need perverts at every turn: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/dr-no-money/ The Gridcoin project especially feels to me like an opportunity to fight against exactly this issue. To me at least, the project's priorities are aligned with BOINC completely. At the very grandest hopes for Gridcoin, one would dream of a currency by science, for science. Individuals creating value through computer cycles, and users like yourself can compound their contributions, by also contributing the earned currency. An incentive system to help galvanize a population around contribution to science, whether you have a room of servers or an android phone. As you point out, this brings all kinds of negative people to the table, but that is inherent in expanding the scope to the average person. Really, every corner of the scientific community could go a long way by reaching the average person. And the fight to combat the effects of a negative influence is a worthwhile one, because the value is twofold: increase in reach, and improving the product and message. Which finally brings me back on topic- this credit system does already have value. Though this is the first time I've ever "mined," I have a long history of dealing with virtual points and currencies. If someone is trying to game the system to get more of it, you know it has value. It may only be in exposure or in status, but it's valuable. They are spending time and effort purely to gain these numbers. Which means that it is worth protecting, if you are going to have it as part of your community. Even a purely ornamental measure is important to the people it influences, if only in the subconscious. Not to mention that anyone who has run any tests or dealt with analytics knows the compounding effects of bad data. I think the effort to prevent cheating in the BOINC credit system is a worthy one, and happens to align directly with the priority of the Gridcoin project. I don't have enough technical knowledge to contribute to task verification for granting credits, but if one of the goals of this discussions is creating a system that is comparable cross-project, then why not create a derivative metric off of the standardized cycle-driven credit system? Gridcoin is doing it in one way, but if the goal is pure comparison, there are plenty of options depending on how you want the output to look. You could have a variable logarithmic scale normalized to each project. I just don't think the answer has to be the one true credit. I always see a value in a base standard, with derivatives for comparison. Just my .02; glad to be a part of the community here. |
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