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The Big Four Folding Sins

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Adak

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2006

The Four Ways an Honest Folder Can Go Wrong with FAH:

1) Post up clients or Work Units on the net, for others to download and fold.

2) Store completed, not yet returned Work Units, for any reason.

3) "Cherry pick" Work Units, so you fold only the WU's you like.

4) Fold on computers you don't have permission to fold on.

#1 is a violation of Stanford FAH's license and EULA with you. It also invalidates any WU's that are returned, because the audit trail is broken. If it's extensive, the project will have to be redone.

#2 Oooh! Makes Stanford livid! Dutch Power Cows and a SE Asian team did a little of this, some years back. Just a little, but you should have seen Stanford's hackles go up, up, up! :D

FAH is entirely time-sensitive - Stanford needs those completed WU's back ASAP.

#3 Changing FAH clients for better ppd is fine, but don't delete any type of WU's your client's server assigns to you. For example, I want more points, so I change from the classic one core client, to the SMP client - that's what Stanford wants you to do. Now fold whatever SMP WU's you are assigned.

However you do it, and however you rationalize it, Stanford has had trouble with folders who "Cherry Pick" their WU's, and has programmed the servers to help prevent it.

This is a sore spot with Stanford FAH. You don't want to go there.

#4 May constitute theft of computer services, and tarnishes the good name of Folding at Home. We've had one member lose his job over this, despite verbal permission. Get a written OK if it's not your system.

For any of the above, your points may be zero'd out by Stanford.

 
Good points Adak, I vote this to be 'stickied' or at least preserved in some form as a public reminder.


I remember the Dutch Power Cows fiasco, not pretty.
 
Pretty sure #4 has caused some lawsuits, too.
This'd be a good sticky (or something to edit into a getting started sticky), and/or front page thing.
I wasn't aware that #3 was a sin till recently when i was informed (semi-politely) that it was. Oops.

EDIT:
Notfred's benchmark violates #1, though it is set to never finish and therefor never upload.

Didn't even know #2 was possible, i suppose it was probably more relevant back in the pre-SMP days when you had a multi-month deadline. Now they expire in a day or two anyway.
 
Pretty sure #4 has caused some lawsuits, too.
This'd be a good sticky (or something to edit into a getting started sticky), and/or front page thing.
I wasn't aware that #3 was a sin till recently when i was informed (semi-politely) that it was. Oops.

EDIT:
Notfred's benchmark violates #1, though it is set to never finish and therefor never upload.

Didn't even know #2 was possible, i suppose it was probably more relevant back in the pre-SMP days when you had a multi-month deadline. Now they expire in a day or two anyway.

technically Notfred's is legal because he hasnt made another client, he just made a specialized linux distro to run the standard linux client.
 
Good points Adak, I vote this to be 'stickied' or at least preserved in some form as a public reminder.

I can't sticky thraeds... but I can add threads to our "mega" stickies. :D Just subscribing right now so I don't lose this.
 
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