Freedom of speach in BOINC

[Cruncher Pete]

So much for voicing ones opinion in BOINC. I have decided to start a campaign and seek others ideas on why we as volunteers are treated as cannon fodder. I am tired of wasting my daily time researching if a project is Active and issuing WU's. My first attempt at this was to start a thread titled: "Project Retirement Policy" in the Official BOINC Forum:
Here. (http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dev/), please read it.

Since "News on Project Outages" relates to the problem, I have voiced my opinion there as well only to be told that the Moderator has hidden my post.

Your post [ID 59819] in thread 'News on Project Outages'
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dev/forum_thread.php?id=8633#59819
has been hidden by moderator Ageless (ID 8).

Your post was categorized as Other

The content of your post:
I decided to challenge BOINC and Projects why we as volunteers who spend thousands of dollars in supporting them are not informing us what is going on in a project. My first attempt is to clarify the BOINC Policy if any, what is their official policy on what is considered an Active, Inactive or Retired project. In BOINC Manager if you wish to join a project there is a list of 27 Active Projects that is available that you might join as a New Project if you have not crunched them before. The problem is that some of them have been Inactive for over nine months and there are numerous currently Active projects issuing work units that are not listed. See the thread: "Project Retirement Policy" in which I am still seeking an answer to my question.

I believe it is about time that BOINC and Project Admins in particular should recognize our value in helping them instead of just using us. If they are not prepared to write a few words in their NEWS section as to what is their current status if there is no Work Units issued within a Month (subject to debate if that time is adequate) than we should not support them and they should be taken off all lists and declared Inactive and Retired. If they Do Not care about us than they should not run a BOINC Project. Without Volunteers they will not have a Project to run. Some Projects even have the audacity to declare that unless we donate funds to run their projects they will be forced to close. So be it, I am not a Billionaire, I am helping them, yet they demand more. It is time we spoke up or support Non BOINC Projects like Folding and Numerous others that need Volunteers for Distributed Client Network.

I do not know where this will lead but I am not the type of person that give up easily. It is conceivable that I will be banned for daring to say what is on my mind. If the contents of that post was offensive or in the wrong place Jord could have easily move it to another place instead of shutting me up.

[myshortpencil]

Thanks for working on this endeavor, CP. What you say makes good sense. BTW, here's a more direct link to the Project Retirement Policy (http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dev/forum_thread.php?id=9918) subtopic.

Also, this is how I tell what projects are running (http://stats.free-dc.org/stats.php?page=projmain&sort=yesterday). It's the overall projects production data on Free-DC.

[Cruncher Pete]

Just to keep you up to date. I just received a PM from Ageless warning me to stay away from the forums until the 26th or he will ban me altogether. He states that my style of writing is highly aggressive and demanding. At the same time He stated that he has a family problem of sorts and he does not feel like talking to anyone.

As he holds the keys to his forum, I shall follow his advice and stay away, however as the problem is still there I will pursue it in another way. I will not give up easily. Gary in his reply indicated that there is no BOINC Policy on the subject and it is an Ad Hoc arrangement. Having received that confirmation I could have called Ageless a lyer but I kept my cool and refereed to it as an evasion of by not answering my question as whose policy he is quoting his own or Official BOINC.

Now that I understand his situation I will pull my head in in his forum for I can not help my style of writing and under the circumstances his reaction is understandable.

[Duke of Buckingham]

I would like to say much but I will say nothing, for less than that I have been baned for life from Boincstats.

I will not talk about that because I always lose my temper on this issue, freedom is not negotiable to me, so there are some (few) projects that dont count with my help.

[DrPop]

What you are asking does make sense. That info is not necessarily required for me, because I am a very "casual cruncher" in the sense that I just mostly help the team in challenges and a few pet projects (that are always online and active).

For a MM or badge chasing cruncher with a big farm, I can see where this could result in loss of production and wasted electricity.
In the end, you are just doing everyone a service - but only if you can get answers and not be banned in the process.
One possible thought if you are concerned about your straight forward writing style, is to run your narrative by someone for editing purposes. There is a lot that can be said in a different tone of voice, without offending the person on the other end... but it is hard to have that perspective when you are emotionally attached to the outcome. ;)

[pinhodecarlos]

That is why I hate BOINC. Send me a private message if you want to really make a difference on math projects. I need some help.