Wirt wrote:
> Things being screwed up is something that we're all familiar with. I do
> believe however that the SETI folks are making a fairly substantial mistake
> by not publicly announcing their failures. This project is as much
> psychological as it is technical -- and it depends of the good will of a
> great number of people.

I agree completely.  There's an unwritten agreement between the SETI@Home
people and their users that goes something like this:  In exchange for
letting us use time on your CPU, we'll give you the good feeling that
you're helping with a monumental human undertaking, and the tiny chance
that your computer could be the one which finds the signal that first
identifies intelligent life beyond our planet.

At the point that the SETI@Home people fail to live up to their end of
that bargain by wasting millions of hours of computer time due to some
screw up like this, then they are guilty of theft of computer services.

While I'm sure we all will happily understand, and forgive, the problems
that such a project will certainly encounter, and the inevitable issues
like the one Wirt describes, there comes a point where their actions
begin to look irresponsible at best.

Such appearances will not help the project succeed.  It's a shame to see
this sort of thing going on when it is so easy to prevent.  A little
proactive communication will cure most of their problems.

G.