Quote from: Gpx on December 05, 2017, 07:04:05 PM

I'm new to blockchain and trying to figure out what determines/controls the transactions that are included in a new block.

If I understand correctly, miners pull from pending new transactions in the mem pool. But;

1. What determines if they choose 1 or 10 or 50?

2. What determines which transactions are chosen? Most recent? Highest fees?

3. Is there some reason for not choosing as many as possible to get more fees?

4. Is this something you configure according to some criteria in your mining software or some thing determined by your pool?

Thx

There are two types of miners who mine transactions based on their preference. Individual miners and pool miners. Pool miners are those who from a group of miners to build more mining power and mine transactions together.

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What determines if they choose 1 or 10 or 50?

They choose as many transactions as possible because at the end of the day they want to earn more and for that they have to mine more.

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What determines which transactions are chosen? Most recent? Highest fees?

This depends on their preference as some miners prefer transactions with fees while other prefers more number of transactions. Both need the same amount of energy and can be equally profitable.

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Is there some reason for not choosing as many as possible to get more fees?

More number of transactions take more time. Quite logical.

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Is this something you configure according to some criteria in your mining software or some thing determined by your pool?

Yes the miner can configure/choose which transaction he wants to mine and can set the software according to the given criteria. You must be knowledgeable with computers in order to perform these tasks.