Posts by Michael

1) Message boards : Number crunching : Keeping new volunteers (Message 89467) Posted 31 Aug 2018 by Michael Post: Hello. Statistics shows that only 2% of users are active (https://boincstats.com/en/stats/14/project/detail/user). I myself started running BOINC and Rosetta only recently and wanted to share one possible way to keep a slightly larger share of new users, using my own new starter experience. When I downloaded BOINC through Rossetta website and started running it, the biggest problem I got was overheating. I think if you are a non-technical or less committed volunteer, it would be quite a turn-off when the fan starts going like crazy and the laptop boils up on your lap! And then you just think it is not good and going to cost you a new computer, and I think some (or many?) people would just stop doing it altogether, instead of trying to work out how to solve it. I do not know whether it is a material problem for new volunteers, but I would assume that it is a problem at least for some people. But I think it can be quite easily solved. We could just add instructions directly to the Join page around how to set options to avoid overheating. I know that all these options are described in BOINC FAQ, but I am pretty sure less committed / non-technical volunteers will simply not go looking for it and read through all of it to find a solution. Perhaps, if setting these options was a part of the joining checklist, it would give new starters the answer without extra effort on their side and also reduce the fears that they may have after noticing overheating. There are only two main options that people will need to adjust (number of CPUs and CPU time), so it will not look like a complicated process. What do you people think? Thank you. Michael.