> Bill Rea wrote, in answer to a question:
>
> >Do people using the manual check out forms get in the Top Producers
> >list? I ask because I've never been able to find myself in the list
> >and I had an email from a former GIMPS contributor who claimed he
> >got no credit for exponents tested through the manual check out/check in
> >pages.
>
> (Bill said) So far as I know, manual testing work doesn't get credited on
>the PrimeNet
> top producers pages, but does appear on the GIMPS top producers pages:
>
>*******************************
>
>Bill, I do check out manually and I have been getting credit. It seems slow
>but George kindly explain he does the updates on a weekend. I have noticed
>it can be two weeks before the credit I am due is posted. But I must insist
>it is ALWAYS posted (Yes, George, I check on it).
I'm not one who's keenly interested in my standing in the contributor
stakes. But it does appear to some people that credit wasn't being
given which has lead people to quit GIMPS for lack of appreciation of
their contribtions. I still can't quite figure out when the updates are
being done, but my guess is that those using the manual checkout/in
pages are only being credited after a database synchronization. Early
in February I was credited with 50 exponents tested, even though I've
finished 10 more since then, the figure on
http://www.mersenne.org/top2.htm hasn't changed and I've dropped 30
places. I guess it's just human psychology that people need to feel
appreciated. If we were finding new primes every few weeks a top
producer list would be far less necessary as the rewards would be in
finding primes.
One thing I find a bit mystifying is why one should lose credit for
an LL test if a factor is found later. After all, a non-prime result
shows that its worthwhile continuing to look for factors (in a pure
mathematics sense). A prime result means it's pointless to try to
factor the number :-)
Bill Rea, Information Technology Services, University of Canterbury \_
E-Mail b dot rea at its dot canterbury dot ac dot nz </ New
Phone 64-3-364-2331, Fax 64-3-364-2332 /) Zealand
Unix Systems Administrator (/'
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