Important feedback from a new user/donor

[pants4ants]

Hi!

Some feedback that I think is very important:

1. About the download page (https://foldingathome.org/start-folding/)
1.1. it should really contains the checksums (typically SHA1 nowadays I think?)
1.2. along with the "Please be patient if you experience idle time as we face the COVID-19 pandemic..." message should be a link to github issues so people can actually help easily (today googling around landed me on the coronavirus repo easily beacuse it changed most recently, but took me a while to find it the other day)

2. About the home page https://foldingathome.org/:
2.1 I would put a big Wash U logo on there, as wash U is only mentioned burried in some text, and when I suggested my friends donated they were hesitant because it wasn't immediately clear where the project originated (and we hear a lot about scams)
2.2. I would also add a "Github" link of sort on the home page so people find it easily and understand this is open-source (reassuring in terms of security)

Really hope this helps... These were all significant barriers of entry for me and my friends

[sukritsingh]

These are actually fantastic suggestions! I will coordinate with the rest of the FAH team so we can implement these changes.
With the volume of new folks joining our community, we are so thankful when y'all provide feedback like this! Thanks so much!

[ajm]

Possibly 3. Add a note somewhere recommending not to use the Web control (or as rarely as possible) right now as its constant queries for updates clutter the already overloaded servers.

[kostuek]

While we are on it: In the manual installation section all the commands are pointing to the old 7.4.4 version, so at first I accidentally installed this old version.
https://foldingathome.org/support/faq/i ... -advanced/
Could be probably changed with very little effort.

[ajm]

Possibly 3. Add a note somewhere recommending not to use the Web control (or as rarely as possible) right now as its constant queries for updates clutter the already overloaded servers.

And/or why not even suspend the whole point thing until there is some capacity reserve for that? Its usual purpose seems almost preposterous at the present time.

[pants4ants]

OP here, sorry I forgot one very important point: a lot of my friends asked if they could run it on their phone, since "that's all they use nowadays"

I googled around and found https://foldingathome.org/support/faq/miscellaneous/, but when I tried to download the client on my phone, it eventually lead me to the linux versions (presumably because I use Android).

I'd recommend not leading phone users to the linux versions, as (and i quote, lol) "it scares them" (I have friends who scare easy though). Instead since you detect the OS, maybe link to that FAQ section (which incidentally should probably mention Android now)

[treckin]

4. Add a slot state to the UI besides "Ready" for when the slot is ready and waiting for WUs to be issued: "Waiting for WU" or "Ready: Waiting for WU"

This could help clarify to users why their HW is idling ("waiting for wu") instead of assuming there may be a problem on their end. This leads to

5. Add a Notifications/Announcements field to the top of the client somewhere where the F@H team can make announcements ("Servers overloaded, users may experience delays in receiving WUs")

[bruce]

I don't think phones will ever be supported again. FAH requires a continuous supply of power and doesn't like battery power. Then, too, your phone would get hot, in spite of the fact that the phones CPU isn't built for FAH's syle of computing. (Single and Double Precision Floating Point.)