Thank you! I know its not much, but it just feels better to get a payout and see everything is paid.

I'll play a little devils advocate. 

I thought one of the fundamental principles behind Bitcoin was the anonymous nature of it. You even say it!


This sounds like the definition of an escrow service.

This is absolutely correct. If an invalid block occurs... it's as if the block didn't occur at all (according to the pool) and makes the rounds longer.

I agree again. We should have all blocks solved...valid or invalid listed in the stats. Please don't change it.
The more info we (the pool members) have the better.

The pool will never payout more than 50BTC per block generated.
Quick Explanation:
If the current block takes so long that Pay Per Share has "used up all 50BTC." then the pool will revert to proportional payout.

Long Explanation:

The pool is on a Max Pay Per Share payout system.
This means that the if a new block is solved faster than normal... and the Pay Per Share payout to everyone was only 40BTC... the pool will save the left over 10BTC for later.

Then if a particularly long block happens.. and the Pay Per Share payout happens to be 60 BTC. The pool will use the saved 10BTC from the previous block to help pay for the shares.

THEN... if another long block occurs, and the Pay Per Share is 60BTC (again). The pool will pay out only 50BTC on a proportional basis.

If there are several short blocks in a row (like we just had), then the pool will save all of the extra BTC for later.
You will never be able to get all of that stored BTC until your miners submit as many shares as it takes to earn back all of the stored BTC.


So, to sum up:
Short blocks will help pay for long blocks--this will help keep everything more averaged.

What is the value per share? (How much do we make per accepted share?)
Could artefact add the current share value to the stats?

If you Solo mine, and actually find a block... the 50 Bitcoin reward appears as a "Generated" transaction... as opposed to a "Sent" or "Received" transaction.
The Bitcoin protocol requires 120 confirmations before "Generated" coins can be spent. Since the pool Generates the coins, eleuthria is just making you wait the same amount of time that he has to wait before you can get your reward. I have no idea why any other pool would not use that same 120 confirmations.

The 120 confirmations are required to make absolutely sure that the block that was found is valid.

Now, let me take this time to remind everyone that you can skip all the waiting if you adjust your donation to 2.5% or more.
Not only do you help eleuthria pay for the servers needed to run the pool, but when a block is found, your estimated rewards goes instantly to your confirmed rewards. Even if a block is invalid, you still get paid.

Some people have their workers setup like this:

Computer_A-GPU_A
Computer_A-GPU_B
Computer_A-GPU_C
Computer_B-GPU_A
Computer_B-GPU_B
Computer_C-GPU_A
Computer_C-GPU_B


So, having everything alphabetized makes everything nice-n-tidy™

Owl is at it again.
Get in while it's HOT!

I have to agree with this. This is something I never quite wrapped my head around. I like the MaxPPS model except for that one thing.

Example:
I pool hopper starts mining. Then leaves.
A block is found. He joins back... another block is found. This will fill his "value."

If the pool hopper leaves the pool at this point or changes Bitcoin addresses, he will never be able to collect this "value."

So where does this value go? Who eventually gets this built up value if it is never collected?

I agree with jkminkov that after a period of time (10 - 20 days) the unclaimed value should be redistributed to the rest of other miners that are active.

You are right to be cautious.

The reason everyone is saying "it will be fine," is because eleuthria has always fixed these problems in the past.
In my opinion eleuthria runs a very tight ship (despite the problems) and has always put the miners first.

But again, one should always be cautious.

Yes, the more servers you have the more TCP stacks you have.
Also, because eleuthria will be placing load balancers in front of each VM an individual VM can be brought down for service with out affecting the system that much as a whole.
It's kind of like spreading your eggs in different baskets.

That was me! And it was a close one.
This was the most fun I had playing a double game. Especially watching the spreadsheet update with the pot dwindling after every payout.
The fact that everyone has a shot at winning (instead of people who get in first) is great.

Take a look at my post above.

Just use 2 miners per GPU. One on BTC Guild and one somewhere else. Using GUIminer, this is very easy to do.
This means you have to run 6 miners, but once you set it, you can forget it.

Hell, for even more redundancy, you can setup 3 miners per GPU (I do this). I never have idle time.

The Bitcoin-OTC system has a huge and complicated reputation system:
http://bitcoin-otc.com/trust.php

The Bitcoin OTC trading network is done almost exclusively in IRC chat.
To setup your OTC Web of Trust name you will have to register your name with a GPG public/private key pair. It can get pretty complicated, but it is also very robust and secure.
If you are not too technically savvy, there is a wiki and Youtube video tutorials to help get you setup.
After you have your name in the system, make a few trades and ask your counter-party to rate you. Once you build up your rep, you can pretty much use the OTC Web of Trust as a basis of your rep.

If you are using command line poclbm.exe (and an ATI/AMD based video card) try this:



And then run poclbm.exe again with you other pool worker sign-on info.



If you are using GUIminer (adn ATI/AMD video cards) do this:
Go to "File" menu and choose "New OpenCL miner"
A pop-up windows will appear to name the miner. You can name it what even you want. I named it "Guild."
This will create a new tab in the GUIminer window. Click on it so we can start configuring.
In the "Server dropdown box, choose "BTC Guild."
In the Username box, type in your username_workername. Fill in your password in the password box.
In the Device name, choose your GPU. If you have multiple GPUs, they will be listed in there. They are numbered starting with 0. You will also see your CPU as a usable device. (This is a hint that you can use your CPU to mine, but it will slow your system to a crawl.)
In the "Extra Flags" box you can type in:

You can tweak these numbers to try to get as many Mhash/sec as you can.
Remember to go back to the "File" menu and "Save Settings"

Now, repeat these steps again. This time using a different pool. When you get to "Device" just use the same device again.
In the "extra flags" box, just use -f60  or any higher number.

---

The main point is to use two miner per GPU. If you have 2 video cards, setup 4 miners.

If you found this helpful and feel generous, a gratuity would be appreciated at: 1JJjL5nxzBfjFjJWoviU9mzrY3fQKxJfvV

Is this still alive

I don't think its "desperation." I think most people are just curious.
Bitcoin has been given a lot more media attention recently. I think most people just want to see what it's about (me included).

This is true. If you have a trading account already set up and already funded, this would work well for most people (and it does).
If you don't have a funded account it can take days to weeks before you even have the chance to buy a Bitcoin with your local currency.

Selling a service or good may be faster than getting set up on an exchange.


Just my two Bitcents.

I payout when I get above 1.5 BTC. This takes about 3 days for me.

There have been a number of people paying out with small amounts (less than 0.10) and this has recently "clogged up" the transactions. In fact there are so many small payments floating around that it can take hours to get one confirmed.

To every Bitcoin miner in the world: Please payout once per day or only when you have over 1.0 BTC.
Please be patient. Mining is a steady and continuous process. Just sit back and let your miner(s) do its job.


You can take a look at all current transactions (that have not been confirmed into a block) on this web page http://bitcoincharts.com/bitcoin/. Take a look at the number of "Unconfirmed Transactions."
Now scroll to the bottom (the end of the "low priority" transactions) and see how long (in UTC time) some of those transactions have been hanging around. Transactions should be cleared within 1 to 3 blocks (45 Minuties max). But they are not, because there are so many of them. I cringe every time I see a payment for 0.01 BTC; I think to myself "Really? Oh come on!"

Here's how to make sure your payment is a higher priority, so it gets through faster:

• Get paid a larger amount. If everything else were equal, transactions with a large amount will be given a higher priority.
• Get paid with older bitcoins. Bitcoins that have been sitting around for a while (that have hundreds of confirmations) will get you even higher priority.
  This does not always happen with pools because they are in the business of making new coins and paying miners. With so many transactions flying around most are "newer" coins.
• Pay a transaction fee. This is the best way to get your transaction marked as the highest priority.
  Mining pools do not do this because it cuts into the profits that the miners work for.

So, the only way we can influence the priority of the payment we get from pools is by the number of Bitcoins in the transaction.

I agree. Using the password to offer a percentage to be kept for donations is a great idea.
It will help out Luke-Jr and still give miners a choice to donate or not.

Something like:
Password = any three digit number = $donation
$donation = Percent kept by pool.


So, if I send a password as 030, then 3% of my earnings would be donated. 021 = 2.1% donation.
Min 000 (0%) Max 999 (99.9%  wow)
Any thing else in the password should be ignored as normal.

I knew you were clever, but that was downright cunning.