How is our base of folders coming along?

[WTS]

How's our base of folders coming along, is it still growing? I can only hope our output is growing everyday.

[JimboPalmer]

How's our base of folders coming along, is it still growing? I can only hope our output is growing everyday.

The number of folders is tapering off, the results are getting larger as each of us remaining is getting more work.

https://folding.extremeoverclocking.com ... ary.php?s=

I like daily Work Units and active users

[WTS]

How's our base of folders coming along, is it still growing? I can only hope our output is growing everyday.

The number of folders is tapering off, the results are getting larger as each of us remaining is getting more work.

https://folding.extremeoverclocking.com ... ary.php?s=

I like daily Work Units and active users

What can we do to attract more uses? I have a feeling the Coronavirus won't go away anytime soon.

[iceman1992]

The number of folders is tapering off

We're flattening the wrong curve here

[Neil-B]

I am simply a folder with no association to FAH Consortium and my views expressed below are purely my own

It isn't just about attracting more users … FAH needs to improve the onboarding experience to increase retention … information needs to be upfront about what (at the moment) are likely to be "good" folding experiences (types of kit, OSs, levels of technical ability, "environmental impacts" such as noise/heat) and what maybe less so … and if FAH is going to actively recruit it needs to be able to service any increases in folders with enough science and an experience that a newer style of folder may expect - having stabilised and maximised serving WUs to existing folders.

Work appears already underway addressing a good number of elements of these and addressing the niggles and issues that cause levels of pain to all … and it would be really great to keep expanding … but I am not sure FAH is quite ready for a second wave of new folders quite yet - lets work on keeping those we have already got

[JimboPalmer]

What can we do to attract more uses? I have a feeling the Coronavirus won't go away anytime soon.

Until the servers can keep up with the current volunteers, I feel adding more frustrated volunteers is misguided. When actual work done resembles peak work possible, then add some more users.

I continue to see internet articles encouraging folks to join F@H but until the infrastructure can serve them, I am not feeling all that 'boostery'.

[codecaine]

I agree with @jimboPalmer. The system will improve, and has been improving since COVID-19, but some users got frustrated. Better off to keep frustration low and improve the system. This will allow consistent folders to not experience as many frustrations, and provide better experiences for those who are relatively new. Scale-ability is key.

[WTS]

I agree with @jimboPalmer. The system will improve, and has been improving since COVID-19, but some users got frustrated. Better off to keep frustration low and improve the system. This will allow consistent folders to not experience as many frustrations, and provide better experiences for those who are relatively new. Scale-ability is key.

Excellent points! How many active folders who can be counted on do we have at the moment? Are we growing or shrinking? Are we still able to process a high volume of work units?

[kiore]

I suspect that many who initially joined in the response to the COVID-19 crisis have given up, because of factors such as the: no obvious quick cure result, technical difficulties, unit shortages, power cost worries or have become bored with the process. I also suspect we have gained a number of people who will stay and become regulars. I was surprised at the number of people that joined the team I fold for, we weren't doing any kind of drive for membership but a whole lot of people just turned up and just did it, and since then many have stopped but about half of the top 20 in the team are new this year and seem to be doing rather well, even if only half of this number stay long term this a significant increase just in one small team. I suspect across the board there have been large numbers of new long term folders joining up, this has been somewhat overshadowed by some massive corporate efforts as well a very large number of people who did it for a while and stopped for whatever reason, but time will tell.

[PantherX]

I personally believe that we have gained our users. Those that left due to various issues might be curious enough to revisit this to try it out again once V8 is available (No ETA). I think that the awareness of F@H has increased a lot even if those donors are no longer contributing. When they see/read articles which relates to F@H, they know what it is about. Some will choose to "give it another shot" while others don't.

Given that F@H has gotten a decent positive attention from companies and sponsers, lets see what happens in the coming months... it would be amazing if something was launched (even in open public Beta) to celebrate 20 years of F@H on 1 October

[WTS]

I personally believe that we have gained our users. Those that left due to various issues might be curious enough to revisit this to try it out again once V8 is available (No ETA). I think that the awareness of F@H has increased a lot even if those donors are no longer contributing. When they see/read articles which relates to F@H, they know what it is about. Some will choose to "give it another shot" while others don't.

Given that F@H has gotten a decent positive attention from companies and sponsors, lets see what happens in the coming months... it would be amazing if something was launched (even in open public Beta) to celebrate 20 years of F@H on 1 October

Perhaps by October the First we'll have something to announce about all of our efforts this past year of the Pandemic. It'd be nice to have made the discovery that stopped the Pandemic, but any major announcement will be welcomed. The advancements that F@H has made in pure science alone is a major contribution to mankind. I only hope we have a growing base of folders in the coming year.

[schertt]

What can we do to attract more uses? I have a feeling the Coronavirus won't go away anytime soon.

Until the servers can keep up with the current volunteers, I feel adding more frustrated volunteers is misguided. When actual work done resembles peak work possible, then add some more users.

I continue to see internet articles encouraging folks to join F@H but until the infrastructure can serve them, I am not feeling all that 'boostery'.

Absolutely this. It's not frustrating just for the new users, either. I've given up on F@H for the foreseeable future as I point my machines towards BOINC-based projects that actually have work.

[WTS]

What can we do to attract more uses? I have a feeling the Coronavirus won't go away anytime soon.

Until the servers can keep up with the current volunteers, I feel adding more frustrated volunteers is misguided. When actual work done resembles peak work possible, then add some more users.

I continue to see internet articles encouraging folks to join F@H but until the infrastructure can serve them, I am not feeling all that 'boostery'.

Absolutely this. It's not frustrating just for the new users, either. I've given up on F@H for the foreseeable future as I point my machines towards BOINC-based projects that actually have work.

I'm back to empty slots awaiting work units to process. Is this actually a good sign that F@H is turning out finished product for the science community and backlogs are kept to a minimum? Or, is it a bad sign that the server system isn't getting fresh work for the folders fast enough? Ideally, when the scientists feed in a project it should be out as fast as possible without slowing down other projects, or having to wait on other projects. P.S. About how many active folders do we have at the moment?

[puuteknikko]

Beta CPU projects have been pushed to FAH as fast as possible, so work is not stopping. GPUs seem to have issues getting work lately, maybe there's much less active projects.

[Neil-B]

I have a suspicion that complete GPU Projects get tuned around much quicker than the CPU ones which might exacerbate he lack of GPU Projects situation .. my gut tells me that some very large GPU folding resources ramp up when GPU Projects become available/plentiful and ensures the Projects complete as quickly as possible.