Here's what I've just posted in the GIMPS Forum. - - -
_IF_ PrimeNet has automatic time limits on assignments, ordinarily requiring no manual intervention to expire assignments or re-assign them, then why would any GIMPS participant, other than a system administrator or a would-be poacher, need to know someone else's: (a) current iteration, (b) days-to-go, (c) days-to-expire, or (d) last date-updated? If there's no non-poaching non-administrating user's need-to-know for those items, then just stop including them in public reports. Include them only in administrative reports and private password-requiring individual reports. That would deny target-selecting information to would-be poachers, right? I'm not claiming this would stop poaching, just that it denies poachers the information they currently use (I presume) to select straggling assignments to poach. A poacher could still target the assignments of userids that had historicallly been slow or simply the ones he/she'd poached before, but then runs a greater risk of poaching a LL that's actually on-schedule, perhaps even one that's running on that user's freshly-upgraded faster system the poacher doesn't know about. Then the would-be poacher might need to consider that his/her efforts would (a) fail to "help" achieve milestones, and (b) more obviously interfere with GIMPS's orderly progress. (We could help the denser poachers figure this out by publishing this reasoning. :) ) - - - Indeed, couldn't my suggestion be done NOW? Make the current assignments report password-protected, then substitute a new public assignments report that omits the above four items. Do the system administrators currently need the eyes and attention of others to detect stragglers _about whom action needs to be taken_? If not, then why provide this information to poachers? If so, just give some other trusted individuals the password for the full assignments report. Does anyone see any problem with this scheme? (... other than that some individuals' curiosities would go unsatisfied?) Richard Woods _________________________________________________________________________ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.ndatech.com/mersenne/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
