My experience across 4 mining pools

[jammers]

Hi all,

I have been mining small scale for a number of months now with a couple of antminers. I had hacked mine to concurrently run on up to nine different pools (http://bitcoinsinireland.com/antminer-s1-mining-more-than-3-pools/ based on what I found at https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=623672.0.

So I've reviewed the various pools, looking at their interface, options etc. I have gotten a lot of feedback on reddit saying that the numbers don't scale up (i'm running about 450ghs) so I've qualified all of the reviews with that, but i'm hoping to get some data to put alongside the review from people with several terahashes.

I'm working my way through every pool at http://bitcoinsinireland.com/list-of-mining-pools-who-have-mined-bitcoins/ which I got from Blocktrail, and trying to see which are active, which are dead, which are public and which are private.

If people know any that are dead, it would save me some time so please let me know.

So for the reviews, I have done http://bitcoinsinireland.com/discus-fish-aka-f2pool-bitcoin-mining-pool-review/ , http://bitcoinsinireland.com/eligius-bitcoin-mining-pool-review/ , http://bitcoinsinireland.com/bitcoin-affiliate-network-mining-pool-review/ and http://bitcoinsinireland.com/ghash-io-bitcoin-mining-pool-review/ so far, and will be doing Slush, BTC Guild, Ozco.in and Polmine in my next batch of four.

I also am looking for ideas for my next four, so please let me know any major ones that I should be doing.

All constructive feedback is welcome, I know I'm just me and it's my opinion, but there's a load of new people coming in, and I'm trying to look at all of the pools through the same lens between now and Christmas, and hopefully have a good way for some pool owners to see what the competition is up to to improve their interfaces.

Thanks!

Jamie

[jawitech]

Just check this site, the most known pools you'll find here with an own thread.

[philipma1957]

try some solo ones.


https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=763510.0
http://solo.ckpool.org/



http://www.solopool.net/register.php
http://bitsolo.net/

[jammers]

@jawitech and @philipma1957, thanks for that, I'll use both as references.

I've gotten a series of abuse via the comments section on my site from what I can only assume is one person, based on the style all of them are written in about the BAN review.

As these charming accusations were made, I'll clarify a few things here as every single one of these has been sent in via a 10minutemail email address, so I can't respond individually

1. "Why are you promoting this scam pool? They got caught lying about their giveaway to users – they are a confirmed scam pool on Bitcointalk – BEWARE!!!

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=782765.0

s0br must be paying you to write these lies – idiot."

2. "You’re obviously getting paid for advertising this confirmed scam pool – say hello to s0br from the people he scammed & lied to……

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=782765.0

What an absolute joke you are."

3. "How much did s0br pay you to publish this rubbish?
Read all about these lying cheats here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=782765.0

Then write some truth."

4. "You forgot to mention about their fake miner giveaway promotion scam to fake accounts owned by the pool OP, the fake photos uploaded by their admin & the lies told by the owner before deleting evidence from his own pool thread & refusing/unable to answer a single question in the scam accusation thread about it (link above)

THIS IS A SCAM POOL & NOT TO BE TRUSTED AT ALL!!!

Please do proper research before posting this crap."


--

While it is clear that there are some individuals here on the forum who had a bad experience with them in the past, I've started reviewing the pool after this giveaway thing occurred, as I am systematically going through all of the publicly join-able pools. I got my antminers early September for this purpose, and got around to mining on the BAN a few weeks later.

I've been reviewing the various pools from my own opinion, and focusing them on the pool UI and whether or not you're getting paid for the shares submitted. I've been getting my mining rewards regularly since mining on BAN (see https://blockchain.info/address/1PTq1ofLXaAtPcnMwjHrhonYNCnd3GvD2c) so the pool works. I also am NOT getting paid by any of the pools to review them, I'm doing it from my own opinion, and have gotten a fair bit of grief for my gHash review being harsh.

I'll be continuing to work my way through the next batch of pools, with the plans for BTC Guild, Polmine, Ozco.in and Slush next.

And it's also very clear who I am, and I don't think I'd be risking my reputation doing something stupid like writing these reviews based on anything other than my opinion, and am happy to answer any questions from people about my approach. If people really want to have their opinion, then they can at least man up and do it from a real email addresss so I can respond to them, instead of anonymously trolling and hurling abuse at me.

So undeterred, I'll continue to do the reviews on the next four

29/10 Update I've received yet another pleasant message from an anonymous person, If you have something to say, please do so here on this thread so we can publicly see who you are, and I can respond accordingly.
30/10 Update - Namecalling continues, this time I'm a dick

[jonnybravo0311]

Look on the bright side... if you're attracting that much vitriol, it means you're getting traffic and your work is being read .

Have you considered p2pool for your reviews at all?  I'd be glad to share my experience if you'd like.

[jammers]

definitely, the plan is try and get all the non solo pools reviewed, and then run on others lile p2pool

a mate of mine loves his raspberry pis and we were thinking of setting up a node on one of the four antminers I have.

but yeah, I'm definitely open to reviews of pools I havent done yet, and data from people with more hashing power than I have for the ones I have done.

looking back at the first of these comments, it said it was from ....really? which I thought was a statement, but that thread in every link has a user of that name, and was the first using the trashmail address, so I figure that must my new friend with the foul mouth.

[jawitech]

I absolutely agree with you. You are not advertising any pool, just state your opinion and share your experience. Everyone is free to do his own research before joining a pool. And even if there should have been something fishy (not familiar with the whole story), it doesn't have influence in your mining.

Go on with your project 

[aurel57]

definitely, the plan is try and get all the non solo pools reviewed, and then run on others lile p2pool

a mate of mine loves his raspberry pis and we were thinking of setting up a node on one of the four antminers I have.

but yeah, I'm definitely open to reviews of pools I havent done yet, and data from people with more hashing power than I have for the ones I have done.

looking back at the first of these comments, it said it was from ....really? which I thought was a statement, but that thread in every link has a user of that name, and was the first using the trashmail address, so I figure that must my new friend with the foul mouth.

I want to apologize to you as I was the one to point your work out to this person

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=821287.msg9375692#msg9375692

I do mine on BAN, after mining at most of the larger pools over the last couple of years. I was also a winner in the pools giveaway. I have no affiliation with the pool other than I use it to mine. I look forward to your reports of the other pools I have used in the past.

[jammers]

No apologies necessary, but that confirms who it is. I've a thick skin than all of this, but I don't think this kind of harassment is acceptable in any case, and glad he isn't representative of the broader bitcointalk community.

[ThePhwner]

No apologies necessary, but that confirms who it is. I've a thick skin than all of this, but I don't think this kind of harassment is acceptable in any case, and glad he isn't representative of the broader bitcointalk community.

Thanks for doing this - not just for our pool but all the reviews. And sorry about all the harsh comments. As you can see I've taken quite a few myself from this character. Oh well. Back to scamming, tra la la...

[.....Really?]

Just noticed this thread.....

For the record, I did leave a comment on the blog concerning the lack of research & missing information regarding the BAN scam - I also left my name with that comment, the same as I use here. Any other comments are nothing to do with me, you'll have to take that up with them.

Having a comments section so that readers can leave feedback seems pretty pointless when you immediately delete them because they differ from your point of view or highlight your missing out of important details - but hey, it's your blog. Maybe if you did a little research on your pool "reviews" & included the more important details so that miners can make a more informed choice, people wouldn't call you out on it so vehemently.

It's not just BAN that you forget to mention details on either, CEX - no mention of their hacking or double spending attacks in your "review" either, all of which is well documented, if you bothered to look.

If you're going to do a review - do a proper one. You'll find that if it's an honest & accurate review, you'll get honest & accurate feedback. This, of course, works the other way around also - a bad & inaccurate review will result in bad feedback. Either way, asking for readers to leave feedback & then deleting it won't work at all.

Hugs & kisses 

[deleterase]

+1

Jammers - stick these on your review blog:

s0br - BAN pool dev:




ThePhawner - BAN pool admin:




Taken from their trust rating, a proper review.......

[jammers]

i can certainly mention a problem with this particular historic promotion, but I still don't see how this affects the purpose of my reviews, looking at earnings and UI of pools. Trust for me is getting paid for my mining time and electricity when I'm supposed to, and I still don't see one single case of a person saying the network never paid them for their mining time.

But until there's an apology for the six abusive messages I got (which weren't deleted, just held by the moderation system for your information), I don't see why I should have to change a word, as I still stand by my opinions and noone has called out an issue with the actual review yet.

[garyramsey389]

Hi all,

I have been mining small scale for a number of months now with a couple of antminers. I had hacked mine to concurrently run on up to nine different pools (http://bitcoinsinireland.com/antminer-s1-mining-more-than-3-pools/ based on what I found at https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=623672.0.

So I've reviewed the various pools, looking at their interface, options etc. I have gotten a lot of feedback on reddit saying that the numbers don't scale up (i'm running about 450ghs) so I've qualified all of the reviews with that, but i'm hoping to get some data to put alongside the review from people with several terahashes.

I'm working my way through every pool at http://bitcoinsinireland.com/list-of-mining-pools-who-have-mined-bitcoins/ which I got from Blocktrail, and trying to see which are active, which are dead, which are public and which are private.

If people know any that are dead, it would save me some time so please let me know.

So for the reviews, I have done http://bitcoinsinireland.com/discus-fish-aka-f2pool-bitcoin-mining-pool-review/ , http://bitcoinsinireland.com/eligius-bitcoin-mining-pool-review/ , http://bitcoinsinireland.com/bitcoin-affiliate-network-mining-pool-review/ and http://bitcoinsinireland.com/ghash-io-bitcoin-mining-pool-review/ so far, and will be doing Slush, BTC Guild, Ozco.in and Polmine in my next batch of four.

I also am looking for ideas for my next four, so please let me know any major ones that I should be doing.

All constructive feedback is welcome, I know I'm just me and it's my opinion, but there's a load of new people coming in, and I'm trying to look at all of the pools through the same lens between now and Christmas, and hopefully have a good way for some pool owners to see what the competition is up to to improve their interfaces.

Thanks!

Jamie

there are lots of site you can check ifr you need help...