Since BOINC is open source, the projects admins have the ability to bypass the new credit system and do whatever they want.

Does DA remind you of NASCAR officials? NASCAR forces drivers to use restrictor plates in much the same way that projects credit uses DA's new credit system if they upgrade their software. For those who don't know what they are, restrictor plates block the amount of air going into the carburator which reduces the horsepower it can make. The more horsepower a car makes, the smaller the hole in the restrictor plate. Of course, the officials say restrictor plates are meant to slow down the vehicles for safety reasons. Sounds good in theory. In reality, they make all the cars go almost exactly the same speed. That means the cars get bunched up and that means more crashes. That's kind of the opposite of safety if you ask me. In addition, it penalizes the good teams and rewards the crappy ones by leveling the playing field. (I though they were pros! Do they give pro drag racers a head start? No!) Anyway, it sure sounds a lot like the new credit system to me.

I always thought the admins lowered (or raised) credit on their own accord and the whole "credit cops" was a conspiracy theory. Until now.... Anyone else see the e-mail in the boinc_projects mailing list between DA and the eon project admin the other day?

> On Jul 29, 2011, at 1:18 PM, David Anderson wrote:
>
>> Sam:
>>
>> The BOINC server code (intentionally) has no mechanism for adjusting
>> credit, to avoid spiraling credit inflation. Instead:
>>
>> - Ask your volunteers which projects are giving more credit than
>> yours, and tell me. I'll investigate.
>>
Looks like the credit cop is not a myth. The really funny part (if you want to call it that) is that the eon admin's reposonse listed WCG, SETI, and uFluids as some of the projects getting more credit. SETI pays high credit? (ROTFL)