Journalist delurking here, with some data that may help unravel the mystery of the microspends: I've been researching an article about e-gold for Wired magazine (*not* Wired News), and in the interest of science I invested about 2/3 of a gram in a "cash-flow game" advertised not too long ago on this list. This is an automated game that promises payouts around 1% every few hours and has been making about 4 or 5 spends per day of a little less than a milligram each into my account. According to the game's published stats, there are around 850 players with total "interest-bearing" deposits of around $33K. Let's assume, conservatively, that just a third of those players are $5 low rollers like myself, with the remainder having invested an average of $60. Collectively, then, the low rollers for this single game would receive a total of 1200 to 1300 sub-milligram spends per day -- or about one half of all such spends listed on the e-gold stats page for the last 24 hours. Just one more game like this one would, therefore, account for the entirety of sub-milligram spends. Or, alternatively, you could assume it's actually more likely that *two* thirds of the players are low rollers, and that this game alone generates all of the e-gold sub-milligram spends. Finally, in any case, the numbers do seem to imply that if the game stats can be trusted, then around 3500 of the ~5500 daily e-gold spends of less than a gram -- or fully three fifths of all microspends -- are generated by this single game. I have two questions for the list: 1. What do you think of the above assumptions, math, and conclusions? 2. More generally, what portion of the total value and number of daily e-gold spends would you guess is generated by the HYIP economy (cash-flow games, investments, investment advice, etc.)? Claude Cormier recently put the number at around 90%, if I understood him correctly; JP May I think said something to the effect that the percentage is an "overwhelming" majority. Do those statements reflect a consensus? Julian Dibbell www.juliandibbell.com --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: archive@jab.org To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Did you know that the new e-gold Secure Random Keypad can help you to protect your passphrase from both keystroke & mouse- click "sniffing" trojan viruses? You can find out more about computer security at: http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/home_networks.html
