Pay attention, Invalid tasks gained only half of points, so PPD 1.4-1.6 M equals to power of 2.8-3.2 M regular tasks.

Being wrong can be frustrating, but there's no shame in admitting it. Trying to pretend otherwise is where you lose any respect you might otherwise have gained.

Twilith,

It's no so much a matter of not willing to admit they are wrong, this is clearly a case of a person who does not fully understand the way WCG works.

x3mEn,

The time that a particular work unit is returned is absolutely irrelevant. If they had not been taken by a cheater than they would have gone to another host with a 10 day return deadline. Beings as the average return time exceeds 2 days the minutes that it took for the cheater to get and return an invalid result matters not at all.

Granted, there would be some additional server load on the WCG side but trust me, the only wasted time was the CPU time accumulated by the cheaters.

WCG has a policy of awarding credit on invalid work as has been explained to you already. They have amended that policy to not allow such exaggerated claims in the future. Therefore even by your standards the problem has been fixed. If you wish to debate the wisdom of the policy and whether the administrators should have zeroed the points of the suspected accounts then that is a different matter than that for which you have been arguing.

The amount of credits awarded for these invalid units really is paltry compared to what a power cruncher is capable of and is of no real value other than bragging rights. As they have apparently been called out as cheaters this makes bragging not only stupid but counterproductive.

No science was harmed during this little escapade, no real benefit was gained nor value lost, the administrators have addressed the problem. What is the issue?

WCG, apparently unlike other crunching sites, gives some credit for our efforts even if invalid. If you crunch here long enough it happens for whatever the reason. Equipment failure, transmission issues, or bad work units, etc. Whatever the cause, It happens. We are still rewarded for our honest efforts as a token of appreciation. Thank you WCG, and I pray you continue with your generous policy.

Those who falsly tried to achieve credits at PrimeGrid ("PG") did so not from their honest efforts of contributing their computer time, electricity, or wear and tear of their computers. Unlike the rest of us, they attempted to unfairly gain an advantage over others, to apparently obtain higher credit scores during a PG sponsored team challenge to help aid team standings, their own individual standings or some other unknown misguided reason. Instead they willfully gamed the system by submitting false/fraudulent, results that has set back PG own research efforts. Agree or disagree about PG's purpose and project goals, but they did suffer harm. Thankfully WCG was not harmed due to their internal system and procedures to help ensure fraudulent or corrupted work units are not validated and not turned over to research scientists. Scientists will tell you that corrupt or false facts/results that are viewed as valid can be devastating to their research efforts in terms of lost time, funding, money spent, and possibly their careers when false or incorrect hypothesis are reached, published, and then tested by independent third parties that are proved false or incorrect. PG suffered this fate to a certain degree as potential prime numbers were not tested.

PG recognized that fraudulent/false returns were submitted and took what they believe was appropriate, fair and just action only after a proper investigation of the circumstances and facts. Since they knowingly submitted false results to obtain points, recognition, or whatever else motivated them to engage in this disgraceful activity, their points were revoked. Seems fair as no honest work or effort occurred nor was this an accident. This appears to be individuals who acted in concert for unknown motivational purposes. Harm did occur at PG as now those results need to be resubmitted, and their research efforts were hampered.

The WCG volunteers ("crunchers") and at other project sites willingly give our computer time for research projects for a greater good. Sometimes it's really for the points, run times, aid your favorite project, badges, some form of recognition, or some other reason known to you. For our computer time we receive points as credit for truthfully and honestly submitting what we believe our computer crunched to be valid results, apparently a lost concept for those who submitted false results. If we crunch long enough, WCG will award badges based upon how long our computers worked on a project to encourage and recognize our efforts. This group of rouge individuals apparently never had such intentions or motivation other than to cheat the system. What their ultimate goal(s) or purpose is still unknown and doubtful it will ever be known. Yet, they may have points for their misguided fraudulent efforts. If these points were earned honestly, they should keep them and never be taken away. Points are our rewards along with the badges, personal satisfaction we derive from our honest activity. While I hope WCG does not change their current policy of awarding honestly submitted results that turn out to be invalid, such an exception I believe is warranted for those who willfully and intentionally, whether acting alone or in concert with others, should not receive the same fruits of our time and labor (points).

I hope WCG reviews their submissions and if a determination is made that they consistently submitted invalid/false results their undeserved points derived this disgraceful activity should be revoked as a means to help deter others from attempting this unproductive and potentially damaging practice. Legitimate points earned from honest and truthful activities should never be taken away, even from these individuals. However credited points from this type of systemic fraudulent practice is clearly undeserved. Otherwise, what are we really saying?

An old childhood saying comes to mind. "Cheaters never prosper."

Why should they now?

You know twilyth, if I can't do a work with a passion, I wouldn't even start it. But fully agree with your statements regarding need of diplomacy

Cheers