[All the questions seem to be directed to Guy, if I've missed any then please requote.]
I hope this is not to invasive, and please consider these educational questions as simply questions. I have no ulterior motive other than to learn more about this ecosystem and specifically people and projects which may impact new miners.
Questions which don't start with "I hate you" are always welcome.
I understand you are bound by NDA agreements.
Was with Spondoolies ('normal' NDA terms = quite strong), we nullified that going forwards
Am currently with Bitmain (weak terms, only designed to punish maliciousness/selling secrets etc)
Was very briefly with HashCoins (to cover the Scrypt chip manufacturer)
That's it unless I'm forgetting someone. Companies trust me with information implicitly because they know they'll get nothing out of me regarding other companies, as other companies get nothing regarding them.
How does knowledge you possess regarding mining companies impact this guide?
I don't think there are any ratings that encompass something that is secret or not already known by the market, if that's what you meant?
I understand you will not violate an NDA in your answer, but please elaborate using an example, analogy, fictional if necessary, and completely in another arena of the world as needed. I am confident you can answer this type of scenario without violating anything as I have been involved in NDAs and NCCs over the years, and I am currently under a Non-Compete Clause as part of a contract now. Some of the facilities I have visited require some unusual things to walk in the door. As in one place had it written in the contract to face forward when walking through a specific area and was explained to me they calculated the average person's peripheral vision. I do not know how true it was, but it was in the contract.
To be more specific, through the aforementioned 'example' and as a follow up question does the knowledge you have (which I assume the general public does not) impact the "Comprehensive Manufacturer Trustworthiness Guide" thread in any way?
That was a ... strange question. The answer is the same as above, I don't believe so. I guess it could be argued that my exposure to Bitmain technical problems / handling / customer emails could be considered privileged? Even then its more of having a sense of scale that wouldn't usually be available to a reader.
For example if 10 people have failed S5 controllers, that's 10 out of 1000s and 1000s of customers. 10 complaints looks bad, but its probably fewer than expected.
I have referenced your material a few times regarding the miners I have and when completely fresh I remember reading the first couple of pages here as a data point. For future consideration in my use and decision to recommend to others I appreciate your candor.
While I find it extremely difficult to imagine most people being unable to maintain an unbiased opinion if they are being paid in any form, be it cash, btc, free miners, cloud mining, or videos of their favorite dogs, but, I can think of circumstances where someone would not be swayed by those things. I do not know if your personal situation would fall in the circumstances I am imagining. I do know anything is possible. Would you mind elaborating on anything you find relative to your past and present situation(s) which may affect your ability to remain unbiased either positively or negatively?
Miners being 'free' for reviews doesn't sway anything. I almost exclusively do 'free' miner reviews so everyone has the same playing field. You'll notice the vast majority of the reviews' content is opinion free and is mainly a statement of facts and documentation. "Yes it didn't blow up, yes it achieved the specs its being sold at, here's what it looks like, here's what you'll need if you decide to buy one." Because of that lack of opinion, there isn't really anything to be swayed.
I will however use opinion where there isn't a quantitative alternative, especially when it comes to noise. I stopped using dba and started giving my opinion on the quality of the noise / annoyingness / loudness. Its highly subjective and difficult to cross compare, but its more expressive than "62 dba". What exactly does "62 dba" mean for me as a buyer? Does "62 dba" mean its a deep roar or a screeching mess? If the most of our worries is that I could have a skewed opinion on noise quality, then we're in a good place.
Its also worth pointing out that as miners have grown cheaper, the man hours on reviews have far outstripped any value that the miners provide. The professional level photography, the 360 degree views, the hours and hours of repeated stress testing and temperature chamber runs are expensive [in time cost], and remain the same regardless of the value of the miner. A $100 miner gets the same opportunity and treatment as a $3000 miner.
As it pertains to this guide, it never has impacted it and it never will do. If you remember back I used to have a single rating against each company, and it was hard to quantify or explain what made a company good or bad. I swapped to a numerical criteria system so its entirely transparent what components make up a company's rating. And then each criteron has its own discrete levels and descriptions, so even if I was biased, I shouldn't be able to manipulate ratings. That being said, if someone wants to find something wrong then they'll find something wrong regardless. Discrete levels means its either a or b, and not everyone can agree with the way it tips. Someone is
always going to disagree and that's okay, because 491,210 cooks spoil the broth.
Speaking more generally, I can understand some people's feelings but there isn't anything there. Some people take it too far and because they fell they'd be influenced, then they feel that I MUST be influenced. They project their own inability to remain neutral, aggressively, onto me and that's not right. I truly do not care what company is 1st, 2nd, 300th, what company goes out of business, what company makes $3 trillion. Companies will come and go, companies will do well and do badly and that's okay. What I do care about is that people don't get trampled on in the interim, and so I consider myself to work for the community primarily. Because of that, it doesn't matter who I am affiliated with because they still have to play with the same criteria everyone else does. I'm probably more critical on companies I do work with, if you want to refer to that as being biased.
I also don't have a particular affinity to money nor any dire need to generate it. I work full time on Bitcoin but could just as easily go get a 'normal' job and earn far more than I need. That means that 'free' miners
mean nothing to me, and any contracts with particular companies just means I'm watching
everything you do. I'm that annoying parent who makes you do your homework as soon as you get home from school, and makes you incessantly clean your room. If I'm working with you, you can't hide anything from me and you certainly can't pay to hide it under the rug. Its analogous to those Skype logs that came out in the BFL case, imagine I'm sitting there reading everything. It doesn't matter what you're press release is saying or when you
think believe make up know chips will finally be ready because I know the truth.
tldr: I don't care enough about money for it to get anywhere near affecting my opinion or values. Every company gets the same treatment, and if anything the companies I work with are put under more scrutiny because they physically can't hide things from me.
If this has already been outlined please point me to the right location. I have read many posts, but haven't seen a discussion regarding the attributes I think a person must possess to remain completely neutral to a company while also being paid.
I don't believe so, the closest we'd gotten to a discussion is "omg ur Bitmain why doesn't x company have 300,000/100 points".
I appreciate your time and what I hope to be an informative response.
Thanks for the informative questions.
