It appears that some new work units are now being generated, but of course there is such a big backllog of machines requesting new work that it's going to take some time for things to catch up.

But it's light at the end of the tunnel :-)

Ian

But it's light at the end of the tunnel :-)

Cue locomotive sounds... :-)

I'm actually sort of surprised that there, seemingly, isn't anyone in an on-call status. Nothing will get someone ready for the "real" world like some on-call for a week, sucking the time out of one's life. : )
(I just came "off-call" about 10 minutes ago.)

i agree with you somebody should be on call to maintain the servers and keep the down time to a minimum.

Matt and Eric have both stated that there are measures in place for the servers to report when there's a problem. However, they are computers and must be specifically told what a "problem" is, and if it isn't in the predefined list, it will not call out. That being said, if no one is able to get to it, then the servers just sit there with their problems until someone can make it in.

Its not like Matt and Eric go home for the weekend and turn off their pagers and cell phones and take their land lines off the hook. I happen to know that Eric and some of the other Admins check in frequently over the weekend to see how things are doing, even if they are not in a locality to be able to fix a physical problem if there were one.

Just because the servers have problems, doesn't mean its OK to start attacking those who run it or making demands if you know so little of whats going on.

I agree with what you have said, and would not expect 24/7 support for a project like this. However you last sentence "if you know so little of whats going on" is my point. It is 4 days now since my main machines ran out of work, and I would like some idea of when I can turn them on again. Matt is usually excellent keeping us up to date, however there was no update yesterday when just a few lines explaing the problems would have gone a long way to helping people understand.

Just my opinion

But part of stating that last sentence is to illustrate that we don't need to know about everything that goes on. Do you tell the project when you're going away? [That is rhetorical, I don't really want an answer] Since we do not know what is going on in their lives, we shouldn't really freak out about minor things.

But regardless, I think it was Eric who added a note to the front page to show courtesy to the SETI users. I even agree that adding a message is the kind thing to do. What I don't like is the way some people phrase their demands/statements/opinions. But my counter-statements are simply my opinions and nothing more.

It's not a matter of demanding. It is a matter of whether or not the project acts like it cares enough to cultivate its volunteer base, and and least offer common courtesy in the form of communication when things go awry. I had already divided my processor time between seti@home and other projects. However, after observing this affair, I've determined to donate all of my compute time to lesser known BOINC projects which need users more than SETI does and are willing to do what it takes to actually compete for it. Just to be clear, this has nothing to do with credits or RAC, about which I care little, except as a rough measure of my own contribution. It's about giving time to the projects that I can feel best about contributing to. By the end of tomorrow, I'll have 4 cores. (Yea!) I'm already supporting ClimatePrediction.net and the FightAids@home and ConquerCancer@home projects of the World Community Grid. Seti was intended to be the 4th. Especially now that it has AstroPulse which is likely to have scientific value beyond the search for ET. However, hydrogen@home is a smaller project which is arguably more useful than SETI, and I believe I will substitute it. Don't read too much into that. But it is analogous to the saying "If you don't take care of your customers... someone else will." Seti's stumble may be other projects' fortune.

Many people have differing opinions on the direct benefits of other science projects and mankind. Many opinions are valid in their own right.

What I'm trying to say is that a lack of information shouldn't necessarily be viewed (though it easily can be and has been) as a "snub" to its users, particularly since all the appropriate messages are returned by BOINC in the Messages tab and the sheer volume of complaints on the boards would show that you're not alone, indicating that the problem must be on the other end and that it'll be fixed as soon as they can, even if that means after the weekend.

I also don't think volunteers should try to pit one project against another based upon the Administration's lack of detail (note that I'm not suggesting no communication be done at all), but on actual scientific merit. I joined four other BOINC projects but I don't really spend much time on their message boards at all, and if a server goes down like Einstein's did over the weekend, I just let BOINC do its thing. I don't start pressing buttons trying to force the issue, I just leave it alone. If I notice the problem after a week, then I might check out the website. But other than that, I know that BOINC is built to be fault-tolerant on that level and I don't freak out about things not uploading or downloading, nor do I get upset if there's a message on the front page or not. I know it will straighten itself out eventually.

That's all I see here. Everytime there's a server issue, people post dozens of threads with complaints and people pressing buttons and generally freaking out, blaming the project and complaining about lack of information. To some extent, the complaints have some merit, but I think most of the time people could just let the system do its job and not worry about it and people wouldn't be so uptight in the first place about minor issues.

I know people care a lot, and that's a good thing. But people need to stop obsessing about every detail. If people knew how many retries a DNS recursive query went through to get the right answer for a DNS lookup, they'd freak out about all the errors before the "right" answer finally made it back to their PC. There's a reason why DNS servers don't return all the extra information and retry messages, because many people would obsess about it and think there's something wrong that needs to be fixed. Sometimes less information is better.

All just my opinion, of course.

Well said OzzFan....

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Wendy



Click Here for BOINC FAQ Service

Then you should donate to the project so they can maybe afford to hire one.

Please don't blame the people who are donating the valuable compute time. Let's not forget who is asking for and receiving the donation of needed cpu time, and who is donating it. Other projects are more considerate and communicative with their donors on those occasions when problems arise. seti@home can afford to be more cavalier since it commands such a high percentage of BOINC hosts. But of course, that is always subject to change.

Sorry to be so critical. But it's the volunteers who are performing the valuable service for the seti@home project and not the other way around as you seem to imply.

Sorry to seem so critical, but we have to be just a little bit realistic.

The project is being run on a shoestring. There are what, three people on the operational side of things? It's hard to shuffle schedules and get 24/7/365 coverage with only three people.

... especially when 1/3rd of that staff is on vacation.

There are so many things that would be better if they just had another pair of hands.

Donated CPU cycles are important, but SETI is critically underfunded.

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Then you should donate to the project so they can maybe afford to hire one.

Please don't blame the people who are donating the valuable compute time. Let's not forget who is asking for and receiving the donation of needed cpu time, and who is donating it. Other projects are more considerate and communicative with their donors on those occasions when problems arise. seti@home can afford to be more cavalier since it commands such a high percentage of BOINC hosts. But of course, that is always subject to change.

Sorry to be so critical. But it's the volunteers who are performing the valuable service for the seti@home project and not the other way around as you seem to imply.

Sorry to seem so critical, but we have to be just a little bit realistic.

The project is being run on a shoestring. There are what, three people on the operational side of things? It's hard to shuffle schedules and get 24/7/365 coverage with only three people.

... especially when 1/3rd of that staff is on vacation.

There are so many things that would be better if they just had another pair of hands.

Donated CPU cycles are important, but SETI is critically underfunded.

And the lack of funds, is probably why AP has been introduced asap. From front page of the SetiBeta/Astropulse test site

AstroPulse is funded in part by the NSF through grant AST-0307956

And the lack of funds, is probably why AP has been introduced asap.

No I believe AP was introduced into the main Seti program so that NitPCKR can be it's own project.

Financially they can't afford to run 3 projects.

Again it comes down to $

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Any recommendations on other projects to go to?

That depends upon your interests and where you personally would like to make a difference. Here is a good place to get an idea what's available, what they do, and how many or few hosts are contributing to each project:

http://boinc.netsoft-online.com/e107_plugins/boinc/bp_summary.php

I'm taking both function and perceived need into consideration when making my choices. I've already mentioned the first three projects I have chosen. IntelligenceRealm is another one that looks interesting. They are doing artificial intelligence work and have only about 2,800 active hosts... compared to SETI's 340,000.

Whatever you decide upon, I hope you find it enjoyable and satisfying.

-Steve Bergman

Thanks for the reply. I joined Rosetta and have it working on two computers now. It seemed like it was the best worthwhile project to help with at the moment. Thanks again.

Thanks for the reply. I joined Rosetta and have it working on two computers now. It seemed like it was the best worthwhile project to help with at the moment. Thanks again.

Enjoy! Rosetta is a good project, and one which I would seriously consider if I did not already have two other bio-science projects running. Antiviral and cancer research are near and dear to my heart.