Would this be considered cheating?

[greyworld]

I'm wondering if I could modify a miner's firmware to automatically jump around between multiple pools based on which one started a new block most recently, about once an hour.  So if, say, Slush pool is working on a block and it's taking forever, this code would switch over to some other pool and work on their new block for a while on the off chance it gets lucky and finds the magic faster.  I'm not sure what that 'magic' is called btw, maybe someone could clarify for me, is it 'the nonce'?  I have no idea what that is.  Then if all that happens is my hashing is split between 8 pools instead of one, it seems like ultimately my collective payoff would come to about the same amount.  But if any of them happens to get very lucky, boom, higher payoff.

Does anything like this already exist?  Is this considered cheating or dishonesty?

Thanks

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[ranochigo]

Yes, its known as pool hopping and its generally discouraged by pools because it will affect the other miners and the pool owners.

Unfortunately, with the use of PPLNS and PPS systems in pools, these kind of attacks cannot work against the pools.

For the PPLNS system, the pool will reward the miners who mined the last n shares before the block. If you exit the pool early, you will not get anything.

For PPS system, the system pays you immediately, regardless of when it finds the block. This will also deter pool hopping.

[greyworld]

Fantastic, thanks for clearing that up for me!

Scratch that idea then.

[darthmaul]

Yes, its known as pool hopping and its generally discouraged by pools because it will affect the other miners and the pool owners.

Unfortunately, with the use of PPLNS and PPS systems in pools, these kind of attacks cannot work against the pools.

For the PPLNS system, the pool will reward the miners who mined the last n shares before the block. If you exit the pool early, you will not get anything.

For PPS system, the system pays you immediately, regardless of when it finds the block. This will also deter pool hopping.

Wow I did not know about such systems which works behind the stage. Pool hopping logically seems to be unprofitable as you said pool will not generate any rewards for you if we left early or before the block can be identified. But why PPS system would follow exact? Isn't both of them are aimed to mine from the same pool or are they regardless of that (PPS and PPLNS systems). Why one rewards immediately and one doesn't. I wanna know about them, any more guide on that please. Would be happy to know more about them.

[ranochigo]

Wow I did not know about such systems which works behind the stage. Pool hopping logically seems to be unprofitable as you said pool will not generate any rewards for you if we left early or before the block can be identified. But why PPS system would follow exact? Isn't both of them are aimed to mine from the same pool or are they regardless of that (PPS and PPLNS systems). Why one rewards immediately and one doesn't. I wanna know about them, any more guide on that please. Would be happy to know more about them.

PPLNS pays the miners that mines in the previous X shift or the X shares before the block is found. Through this, the miners can be affected by the bad luck that a pool may face or a block withholding attack.
PPS pays the miners immediately regardless if a block is found but the pool will take a bigger fee and they can balance out the loss they may get from the bad luck.

[freeyourmind]

Wow I did not know about such systems which works behind the stage. Pool hopping logically seems to be unprofitable as you said pool will not generate any rewards for you if we left early or before the block can be identified. But why PPS system would follow exact? Isn't both of them are aimed to mine from the same pool or are they regardless of that (PPS and PPLNS systems). Why one rewards immediately and one doesn't. I wanna know about them, any more guide on that please. Would be happy to know more about them.

PPLNS pays the miners that mines in the previous X shift or the X shares before the block is found. Through this, the miners can be affected by the bad luck that a pool may face or a block withholding attack.
PPS pays the miners immediately regardless if a block is found but the pool will take a bigger fee and they can balance out the loss they may get from the bad luck.

I want to make sure I'm understanding this correctly.  Is PPLNS a prorated payment system that pays you proportionally to the amount of effort or hashing power you contributed as a % of the pool?

[-ck]

Here's the original document on PPLNS:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=39832

[jpouza]

Yes, its known as pool hopping and its generally discouraged by pools because it will affect the other miners and the pool owners.

Unfortunately, with the use of PPLNS and PPS systems in pools, these kind of attacks cannot work against the pools.

For the PPLNS system, the pool will reward the miners who mined the last n shares before the block. If you exit the pool early, you will not get anything.

For PPS system, the system pays you immediately, regardless of when it finds the block. This will also deter pool hopping.

Perfect answer.

Those pool payouts systems (PPLNS and PPS) have been created years ago to prevent such "malicious"actions made by miners.