Deepbit offline...

[anodyne]

 You don't have to think that far ahead to realize that even if you get difficulty down for one retarget, it will bounce back with a vengeance when the network compensates with the retarget after that – with the lowered difficulty it would take very few days for the 2K blocks between those retargets to be generated, so there would not be much time to reap any great benefits from the attack.

Not that I would put it beyond anyone to try, but I think this is because someone has decided to prove the much-discussed point that having so much of the network's power tied to a few entities is a less than optimal for the health of bitcoin.

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[RobzInadE]

They were working fine earlier today... I hope they will be back up. Or if they could post some news? Anyone got any tweets or something from the official deepbit.net?

[[Tycho]]

I did some posts on this situation in my thread and in IRC channels.

[KnuttyD]

I did some posts on this situation in my thread and in IRC channels.

So whats the scoop?

[ne1]

Is anyone elses eyebrow a little cocked at the fact that "other" is  75% of hash distribution?(bitcoinwatch.com)  Do we think it is just solo miners or a secret pool of cia super computers trying to destroy the block chain?

[anewbie]

You don't have to think that far ahead to realize that even if you get difficulty down for one retarget, it will bounce back with a vengeance when the network compensates with the retarget after that – with the lowered difficulty it would take very few days for the 2K blocks between those retargets to be generated, so there would not be much time to reap any great benefits from the attack.

What about the opposite attack?

Since people like to speculate about governments' displeasure with bitcoin, couldn't they play by the rules, add tons of hashing power to the network, get the difficulty sky-high and then just pack up their marbles and go home?

Block generation time then sky-rockets and thus the elapsed time until a difficulty reset.

Not that I think this scenario likely, but attack motivation may be more than directly economic.

[Nythain]

Is anyone elses eyebrow a little cocked at the fact that "other" is  75% of hash distribution?(bitcoinwatch.com)  Do we think it is just solo miners or a secret pool of cia super computers trying to destroy the block chain?

Other is everything else that bitcoinwatch isn't directly getting hashrates from. Includes smaller/newer pools that haven't contacted bitcoinwatch to have their pool added yet, solo miners, and, at the moment, it's not calculating slush and deepbit because of various reasons.

There's at least 3 or 4 pools that have popped up recently that bitcoinwatch doesnt track, continuum, bitcoins.lc or whatever, and bitclockers to name a few. The site has no way of knowing about every pool in existence until those pool operators contact bitcoinwatch with a hashrate address for their pool.

[1bitc0inplz]

Is anyone elses eyebrow a little cocked at the fact that "other" is  75% of hash distribution?(bitcoinwatch.com)  Do we think it is just solo miners or a secret pool of cia super computers trying to destroy the block chain?

Thats a good point.

All this attention on deepbit, and their nearly half stake in the total hash rate.... not too many people seem to point out that "other" is just as big, and even more scary than deepbit. At least with the hash rate for deepbit, we know *who* that is.... "other" could be 90% 1 person as far as anybody knows.

[grondilu]

Has a cyberwar just started or something?

While the pools are off, you guys are doing solo mining, right?   You don't just have your computers wait doing nothing, do you?

[Nythain]

Has a cyberwar just started or something?

While the pools are off, you guys are doing solo mining, right?   You don't just have your computers wait doing nothing, do you?

Solo mine if viable, or switch to a different pool until pool of preference is back and stable.

[error]

Eh? Slush mining pool has been up and serving work continuously. But the web front end is getting hammered hard.

[rezin777]

Has a cyberwar just started or something?

While the pools are off, you guys are doing solo mining, right?   You don't just have your computers wait doing nothing, do you?

Grondilu! I'm ashamed of you! You don't expect others to secure the network for you, do you?  Get your pick and get down and dirty with us! 

[grondilu]

Has a cyberwar just started or something?

While the pools are off, you guys are doing solo mining, right?   You don't just have your computers wait doing nothing, do you?

Grondilu! I'm ashamed of you! You don't expect others to secure the network for you, do you?  Get your pick and get down and dirty with us!  

You're kidding but it's a serious question you're asking.

I buy bitcoins so I support the market and thus give you some incentive to mine.  Isn't that good enough?

[rezin777]

Has a cyberwar just started or something?

While the pools are off, you guys are doing solo mining, right?   You don't just have your computers wait doing nothing, do you?

Grondilu! I'm ashamed of you! You don't expect others to secure the network for you, do you?  Get your pick and get down and dirty with us!  

You're kidding but it's a serious question you're asking.

I buy bitcoins so I support the market and thus give you some incentive to mine.  Isn't that good enough?

Yeah, I'm just poking fun.  The French are poor miners anyway. Stick to grapes!

[anodyne]

Is anyone elses eyebrow a little cocked at the fact that "other" is  75% of hash distribution?(bitcoinwatch.com)  Do we think it is just solo miners or a secret pool of cia super computers trying to destroy the block chain?

Thats a good point.

All this attention on deepbit, and their nearly half stake in the total hash rate.... not too many people seem to point out that "other" is just as big, and even more scary than deepbit. At least with the hash rate for deepbit, we know *who* that is.... "other" could be 90% 1 person as far as anybody knows.

The reason I prefer pie charts over regular pies is the wonderful fact that even if I eat more than half the slices the rest of them will magically grow to make sure the pie chart dish always is full...

 

[rezin777]

You're kidding but it's a serious question you're asking.

Although from slush's thread, it looks like slush just went down as well. Maybe you want to hit the "Generate Coins" button, just in case!

[error]

You're kidding but it's a serious question you're asking.

Although from slush's thread, it looks like slush just went down as well. Maybe you want to hit the "Generate Coins" button, just in case!

Nope, the mining pool is mostly up, though the website is mostly down.

[rezin777]

You're kidding but it's a serious question you're asking.

Although from slush's thread, it looks like slush just went down as well. Maybe you want to hit the "Generate Coins" button, just in case!

Nope, the mining pool is mostly up, though the website is mostly down.

I see. The last two posts in his thread say mining is down as well. I just assumed they were correct.

[1bitc0inplz]

Is anyone elses eyebrow a little cocked at the fact that "other" is  75% of hash distribution?(bitcoinwatch.com)  Do we think it is just solo miners or a secret pool of cia super computers trying to destroy the block chain?

Thats a good point.

All this attention on deepbit, and their nearly half stake in the total hash rate.... not too many people seem to point out that "other" is just as big, and even more scary than deepbit. At least with the hash rate for deepbit, we know *who* that is.... "other" could be 90% 1 person as far as anybody knows.

The reason I prefer pie charts over regular pies is the wonderful fact that even if I eat more than half the slices the rest of them will magically grow to make sure the pie chart dish always is full...

 

Even before today, "other" was approximately equal in size to deepbit.

Do you know each and every entity that comprises "other"? Nope, neither do I.

So, all I was saying is that people are so focused on deepbit getting close to this magical 51% number, while "other" is a non-negligible chunk of the network. And, unlike deepbit, "other" could be largely composed of a single person or legal entity with malicious intentions, as far as anyone knows.

[1bitc0inplz]

I see. The last two posts in his thread say mining is down as well. I just assumed they were correct.

my miner was down. Diable kept repeating "unable to connect"....