Re: [850 TH] Slush's Pool (mining.bitcoin.cz); TX FEES + VarDiff

From Facebook:

Slush's pool
37 minutes ago
Good news, we have setup a new EU stratum server today as a replacement for the original one.

Now we need to wonder, would someone replace something if there wasn't a problem with it? Backstage issues, long blocks, yup...

I don't care because I'm swamped with work, haven't been checking often. Hopefully we see the problem lifted and shorter rounds start happening...

can you please show us with X's and O's how back end hardware causes long blocks.

my request of u is as loony as...

Yeah isn't it funny how they repair the server, then the rounds get short and our luck improves drastically and immediately?!

Why do I feel like so many people are in denial about the fact technical issues are very likely tied to our long blocks? Lot of IT guys in this thread or what? Afraid to consider exploration of the unknown grey area we cannot see? Try just for a moment to imagine like you don't have all the answers, and that maybe the number sold to us as "luck" does not represent factors of pure un-corrupted chance probability. Pay attention next time our luck takes a major nosedive, usually we get an announcement about a technical issue that was being resolved, or a DDOS attack being fended off. I'm fine with it, no plans to leave the pool, but I think too many people here reach for their rifles when people ask questions or make suggestions- what's the harm in a reasonable hypothesis about a backstage technical issue impacting our performance? People come here bitching about luck, but luck isn't truly "luck" if it's caused by a technical issue.

Anyways, now that they resolved the technical issues I am glad to see our "luck" is back to where it should be. On the other hand, if the server shits the bed then you could say it's bad luck, I mean for a server to just crap out like that, or the way the pool always chokes when we approach 900TH. In that sense maybe it is all luck, but if the system is stable backstage we seem to have some very nice runs, and maybe you could argue not having technical issue for a week is a matter of good luck. Happy? See, I argued both sides in terms I can even agree with.

It's just the oposite, in fact: People come here bitching about "reasonable hypotheses" that are no reasonable at all.

Kindly tell me, who is to judge if a hypothesis is reasonable or not? I've seen a lot of people discussing poor luck, and then anyone that dares mention the possibility that our drastic dips in luck may be because of special-cause events, like technical issues, people freak out and can't handle it or something. You tell me, am I imagining things where most of our 15+ hour blocks are followed by some type of announcement of a technical issue and then an immediate improvement in the round times and luck values? I see it happen almost every time. It makes sense the issues get announced after, because Slush doesn't want people bailing off the pool if they learn about a tech issue.

Few weeks ago, maybe even a whole month, there was an announcement about the server jamming up just shy of 900th. The whole network has grown and we are still under 900th, in fact we've been between 750-850th for over a month, why is that? When we get close to 900th I'm starting to wonder if the server craps out, otherwise why aren't we there yet? Last time we almost kissed 900th the whole server went down, and we had a series of long blocks... Miners leave on their own during the long blocks and I presume the issue almost compounds in that way, but the longer we are held under 900th the more likely we can expect average round times to get longer as the rest of the network and other pools are getting bigger.