Hi guys, I recently heard about the SETI@HOME project, read a couple of pages and decided to give a little help in the task.

A couple of days later I read about the credits, but I don't get it. Do the credits give you some benefit? I mean, what can you do with them? Do you trade them for something?
If not the credit thing makes no sense to me... I'm helping to be helpfull, the reward would be the knowledge... So, can you guys explain what are the credits for?

Thanks

Credits are simply recognition or appreciation for the work you have processed. Some call them "Bragging rights" but I disagree. They dont give you any kind of reward, but you can print out a certificate which acknowledges your level of participation in the project.

You probably read some of the discussions about credits. This is because many of us feel that the work we did on the old project should still be recognised and appreciated, but when the project transferred over to the new BOINC software, some of those credits were missing in certain circumstances. Being new to the project, its nothing you need to worry about since it wont affect you.