ATS Points?

Do we get any ATS points for anything we do with SETI@home?

If so, what do we get points for?

If not, has it been considered?

Uh, you need to ask the Seti Crew.'

They should get points frankly.

I am impressed by their dedication, organization, and civility and they are truly an example to the rest of us.

i hope not. that wud give a serious advantage to those with connections and the capabilities to purchase computers, mods, etc. leave us little guys in the dust. sides, dudes lik bob and spectre wud own, too bloody rich* for their own good.
*facetious

*EDIT*
To preserve the integrity of the site, im keeping the above. i do wish to say that i dont no what i was smoking at the time, i dont agree with that. As Genya states the obvious later, the time it takes to carry out one WU, even super fast, is far greater than greater point earning, thoughtful posts. it has my full support
*/EDIT*

[edit on 9/17/2004 by Amorymeltzer]

Cant believe you guys are worried about points

Originally posted by Amorymeltzer
i hope not. that wud give a serious advantage to those with connections and the capabilities to purchase computers, mods, etc. leave us little guys in the dust. sides, dudes lik bob and spectre wud own, too bloody rich* for their own good.
*facetious

It's not our fault we're able to afford better computers.
Just because you're poor don't insult us / complain

Yes!!! In do time..... When the New SETI board opens up.
It is my understanding that points will be awarded for individual and group effort. As far as Amory's comment goes. You don't need the best or most expensive computer, anyone with an internet connection can use it. Even if you just use one at school you can run the program while you are on then close it and when you reopen it, it will continue where it left off....

Originally posted by TrickmastertricK
When the New SETI board opens up.

hows that gonna work/be like?

Hi all!!

Apologies for joining in late (once again!) - it's all to do with our time difference, I guess?!

First - Points. There is a thread about this already:

Points For Work Units - www.abovetopsecret.com...

Essentially, we discussed how we might attract *more* people to join the group and thought that an incentive might do this. We also felt that it could "reward" people who had contributed their computer CPU cycles unselfishly over, in some cases, in the *years* since SETI@home was established. It was generally agreed that "points for work units (WU's)" might be an answer. We also discussed the merits of having a "status" bar under our names, similar to the titles like "Writer/ Fighter/ Scholar" - we thought "Seeker" would be appropriate.

As you'll know from the "Banner" on the home page, it has been agreed that *points* will be awarded, although the mechanism for this has yet to be released. At the time of discussion, it was thought that perhaps 20 points per WU would be allocated to individuals plus a number derived from the totals achieved for the team (I have no further information on this at present).

Whilst 20 points per WU might appear generous, please remember that the time to complete each WU varies between computers. My 2.6Ghz P4 machine with 512 MbRAM takes around 4 hours on average to complete 1 WU, and, in theory, if I wished, I suppose I could "earn" 20 points from posting sufficient messages in the same 4 hours time span?? However, a 233Mhz P3 I used to use took 35 hours to complete a WU - so 20 points isn't a lot in comparison?

Please remember, too, that all the ATS SETI@home team are running SETI@home "voluntarily": many over a number of years. I'm *not* unique by any means, but in my case (since I know the "facts" of my situation) I've run SETI@home, 24/7, 365 days a year, since July 2001. My choice, of course, but nevertheless at my expense in terms of running costs/ replacemnt of equipment, etc. And everybody in the ATS SETI@home team has done the same.

Anybody is "free" to join the team, of course - it is not an "elite", there are no qualifications necessary: all that is required is that you run SETI@home and - to gain any points for Wu's - join the team itself and let us all know who you are on the board ( as some people ID's are different on the ATS stats board - reached through the signature below) - and on the ATS Discussion boards here. That's all you have to do... So, please don't think we're "exclusive" - we *welcome* new members - if we had 1000 members we would be hitting around 1500 WU's "crunched" every day, i suspect - which would promote us rapidly up the "All time" teams boards - and that way actively promote ATS itself!!

I *hope* that answers some questions about "Points for WU's" and explains some of the rationale behind this discussion? As always, however, please ask questions about the team or SETI@home and somebody will glady answer them. Can I recommend though, that you look at the ***ATS SETI@home Index v1*** as *many* questions and "how to's" are already there, so your question might already be answered or a thread might exist that is relevant to your query? Thank you for your cooperation!!

Finally, thank you THENEO for your encouragement and support. It is much appreciated by all of us!!

Let's go ATS SETI@home team!!

Originally posted by Amorymeltzer
i hope not. that wud give a serious advantage to those with connections and the capabilities to purchase computers, mods, etc. leave us little guys in the dust. sides, dudes lik bob and spectre wud own, too bloody rich* for their own good.
*facetious

My SETI cruncher cost me about $1000 to build myself using parts from an old Dell I had, and it will crunch WU's with the best of them.., on average a WU takes me about 4 1/2 hours running an AMD Athlon XP 1800 with a little over a gig of ram...most people spend 2 to 3 times that amount on prebuilt computers and all they ever do is play games...its all about machismo, my favorite is when I tell them what kind I have and they say, "Well MY computer is ___ gigahertz", start with the questions like "Do you use DDR RAM or SDRAM?", "Have you ever flashed your BIOS?", "What kind of chipset are you running?"...usually they try to change the conversation or they turn pale and say "I dont know"...and the moral of the story here kiddies is:
"You aint gotta be no rich man to run SETI"

Originally posted by Todeskopf
"You aint gotta be no rich man to run SETI"

Well said Todeskopf!!

Similarly, some people think that you need an "always on" connection to run SETI@home: untrue.

If you use SETI Monitor, for example, you can cache WU's (i have mine set for 20) and then "simply" upload them when you're next on-line and get another set of WU's. So, *any* machine, with an Internet connection via DUN modem, say, is capable of running SETI@home... It *might* take a long time but - what the hey?? Every lttle helps!!