FormulaBoinc Forum

Tamagoch wrote: Fri Mar 27, 2026 6:24 am
Hi Tim,

just want to mention another 'very special' sprint - the current one.
All points counted for the moment are coming from a huge validation backlog and tasks made weeks ago.
There may be no points at all for tasks completed within a sprint timeframe.

Hiya

Ah....I hadn't spotted that "backlog" on the validator

So, thanks for the heads-up.

And this might explain why a couple of members accrued a lot of BOINC credits, very quickly, which I had assumed might be down to "a lucky guess" (about the chosen project)...but now it seems likely that they were already crunching tasks before the Sprint which were awaiting validation.

Tamagoch wrote: Fri Mar 27, 2026 6:24 am The sprint project validator are racing with us. Another type of fun

It could be the very last sprint for this project as it comes to an end. So, let's see how it goes.

P.S. The validation backlog reduced from ~120k to ~96k results during last day but we have surely added some more.

And yes, if tasks from the Sprint are not being validated quickly (and during this weekend), then, the final results could be slightly compromised.

UPDATE: The Amicable Numbers forum had a new post on 25th March about "Unplanned Maintenance" !!

see here posted at 25/03/2026 at 14:10 UTC

https://sech.me/boinc/Amicable/forum_th ... ostid=2316

"Workunit and task distribution is temporarily off until the backlog of WUs clears.

Waiting for backlog to clear again, task generation is off now. It can take a day or two."

and then shortly after at 25/03/2026 at 15:03 UTC:

https://sech.me/boinc/Amicable/forum_th ... ostid=2318

"The "waiting for validation" number is going down steadily now. I've re-enabled task generation, but all tasks will be 4 times bigger now (and 4x the points) to reduce the load on the server."


So, this will very likely affect the Sprint somewhat.

But this is something that is a little out of our control...

regards
Tim

Congratulation for chosing another desaster for the sprint.

If there are not enough usuable projects, then it might be really better to skip some races.

Wouldn't it be a good idea to talk with the projects before chosing them?

UBT - Timbo wrote: Thu Mar 19, 2026 9:08 pmhat the general consensus is.

Poll is now live:

viewtopic.php?t=432

How can I change my mind about the poll?

A frustration gives me sometimes fresh ideas. I'll try to describe one. There's still some possibilities to save sprints future, I hope.

MAYBE with a help of Sebastian and IF it is possible to implement, we could run a subproject sprints.
In that case we could have for example a separate CPU only SRBase sprint, YoYo Siever sprint (with shorter tasks of fixed length), some variations of Primegrid sprints etc.

But there will always be surprizes and obstacles. That's the hard life of BOINC projects...

Amicable has this problems min for 2 or 3 month.
It's not new and work units are sometimes stopped for many hours to allow the server to clean up the pending.

Amicable was very stable in the last years but this year they have problems with the validation part.
Perhaps to many new RTX 5000 cards crunching for this projekt.

Only one of my machines started up at race time get a few Credits.
All other Credits are from WU's reported 24 Mar.

And the admin of Amicable is not so happy about this sprint:
https://sech.me/boinc/Amicable/forum_th ... d=352#2179

Tamagoch wrote: Fri Mar 27, 2026 7:32 pm But there will always be surprizes and obstacles. That's the hard life of BOINC projects...

Well, if you don't even give the admins of the selected projects a heads up, no wonder there are surprises. Honestly, last year's Formula already had some terrible picks and this year does not seem to be an improvement. I appreciate all the free time and effort you put into this project but in its current shape and form it is frustrating for the participants.

Just had a look at my previous posts in this forum and I had complained about the same thing in 2018: viewtopic.php?p=545#p545

I guess there is a pattern to how the Formula is being run.

csbyseti wrote: Fri Mar 27, 2026 7:37 pm Amicable has this problems min for 2 or 3 month.
It's not new and work units are sometimes stopped for many hours to allow the server to clean up the pending.

Amicable was very stable in the last years but this year they have problems with the validation part.
Perhaps to many new RTX 5000 cards crunching for this projekt.

Only one of my machines started up at race time get a few Credits.
All other Credits are from WU's reported 24 Mar.

And the admin of Amicable is not so happy about this sprint:
https://sech.me/boinc/Amicable/forum_th ... d=352#2179

This only started when people finally realized the project was ending after this phase and an influx of users came to run it before the end.

Also, I think you meant to quote this post by the Admin... https://sech.me/boinc/Amicable/forum_th ... =2327#2327

fax wrote: Fri Mar 27, 2026 9:08 pmWell, if you don't even give the admins of the selected projects a heads up, no wonder there are surprises.

Yes, you're right. But since Tim is much more busy at work this year, how could we help? Personally, I can only crunch and throw some ideas. And consider everything as a part of a challenge to have a least some bit of fun for participation.

Every sprint we know more how a particular project works. That may help in big competitions like Pentathlon for example. Sadly it's too irrelevant for the current one

fax wrote: Fri Mar 27, 2026 9:08 pm Well, if you don't even give the admins of the selected projects a heads up, no wonder there are surprises. Honestly, last year's Formula already had some terrible picks and this year does not seem to be an improvement. I appreciate all the free time and effort you put into this project but in its current shape and form it is frustrating for the participants.

Hi

I actually DO contact BOINC admins in advance of the Sprint start date. Sadly, some do not reply. which leaves me either choosing to go ahead and hope that all is well, or if I can, I'll contact a second BOINC project and see if they will be suitable.

As for the "current shape", the problem is that BOINC volunteers are not crunching as much as say 10 years ago *and* MANY projects have either closed down or they are not issuing work units in significant numbers.

So, that leaves only a few to go "into the hat" to be selected...so some projects will get chosen more often, simply because they generate enough work units to satisfy the demand from Formula BOINC members. And other projects will NOT be selected, if they have very few tasks in the "waiting to send queue".

And yes it is frustrating for both members and for me, as I have to try to make sure each selected project is not undergoing maintenance (for the Sprint dates), that it will have plenty of tasks, and that their administration of their project is working correctly and there are no issues.

In the case of Amicable, I had not noticed that their validator was "running slowly" so I apologise for this oversight. But if it was working then there might be fewer issues, but that is not to blame the project - things do not always work perfectly or as designed and being human, we have to accept this and move on.

However, looking on the positive side: There are a total of 22 confirmed F1 races, and possibly 24 Sprints. Two of these have taken place and one is underway now. That leaves a further 19 (or possibly 21) Sprints that have yet to take place so if earning FB points is your sole "raison d'être" for taking part, there's lots more chances for you to boost your FB total over the forthcoming months.

regards
Tim