I don't know if someone else has proposed this before, but I was wondering if the web developers could put the posting option onto facebook. I want to get more people into participating in SETI@home and other projects, and maybe by being able to post it on facebook for example, people will wonder what is all about, and they will like to contribute.

Personally, I'd rather lure people in using interest in science. Luring people in through the interest in collecting points seems to encourage people to think that it's a game and they'll lose if the servers are down. I'd rather avoid that expectation if at all possible.

These are just my own humble opinions. They do not reflect that of the project or BOINC overall.

IIANM there are already third-party Facebook apps for displaying BOINC statistics. (I don’t do FB myself, so I can’t recommend any in particular.)

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Yeah, I know what you saying, but if people are going to leave their computer on anyways, I don't care if they think of it as a game as long as the end result is helping projects like SETTI.

The problem with your assumption is, not everyone leaves their computers on. Most people turn off their desktops or have their laptops go into standby. CPU manufacturers have found ways to turn off parts of the CPU so it consumes less power during idle states too. Running distributed computing requires more power and higher electric bills. With today's economy, it won't take long for people to realize that the volunteer basis is costing them and many will leave.

I have a friend whom I convinced to let me put SETI on his home desktop under the premise that SETI wouldn't run while he was using the computer, and he would shut it down when he was done - essentially no computing time was going toward the project. When I asked him, he stated that he's very financially conservative and he saves every penny he can through energy efficiency.

That example is just a portion of the people out there, but I imagine it's a large portion. It requires dedication to leave your computer running and take on the extra expenses of volunteer computing.

Bottom line is that not everyone runs their computers 24/7.