59 replies to this topic

[Mind]

Nike's logo gives no indication that it is a company that sells shoes. The logo is about style and grabbing people's attention.

Maybe you were looking at the wrong attachment Caliban. The press release does have my imminst email and a link to imminst at the top (and my contact info at the bottom). It also has the Imminst banner at the very top.

I will go over the press release, splash page, and related forums once more to make sure there are appropriate links.

[Mind]

Ok, it is all set to go. Check out the splash page here: http://imminst.org/a...ldinghome-prize

Please feel free to spread the word in related forums, like the folding@home forums. Link to the splash page.

As far as getting the info on email newsletters, newspapers, and getting it to other websites, maybe we should wait until next week, because I will not be available much from Friday through Sunday.

Please list any news websites we can promote the contest on. We'll do a big blitz next week.

[dnamechanic]

I sent the following message to Mind via email:

Looking at your new "splash" image, which is very neat, it just occurred
to me that Stanford probably has legal rights to the F@H or Folding
name.

If someone at Stanford were to view the prize in a negative way, maybe
they could cause us some problems.

They, Stanford could be concerned that we really don't represent them,
but the F@H imagery and use of the name could associate us with them.

Could be an issue, what do you think?

To which, he (Mind) replied:

What do I think? I wish someone would have brought this up earlier. Grrrr!

Since Standford is not a private business and makes no profit from the
Folding@home project, I doubt they have filed for any copyright or trademark
protection. Also, looking around their official website, I don't see the
shorthand F@H being used anywhere, so legally we would have first chance at
tradmarking the logo. We should forge ahead.

Stanford should be thrilled that we are helping the project. If not, we will
have to talk to them. If we get the word out and there is a huge ground
swell of participation, then it will be harder for them to turn us away.

If this becomes a problem and we are rejected, kicked to the curb, slapped
around like the red-headed step child, spat upon, then I think it is time to
get serious about changing the name of the Institute.

***Please post your question and my reply in the prize development forum, as
I think it is something worthy of more input*****

[caliban]

Since Standford is not a private business and makes no profit from the
Folding@home project, I doubt they have filed for any copyright or trademark
protection. Also, looking around their official website, I don't see the
shorthand F@H being used anywhere, so legally we would have first chance at
tradmarking the logo. We should forge ahead.

some strange stuff in there.
-- of course folding at home is registered as a trademark in the US
http://tess2.uspto.g...tate=au87p0.4.1
-- you don't file for copyright, you just have it
-- you don't get to trademark something simply by being first

But none of that really matters - if Stanford does not like the prize, it is no-go anyway.
The very least one should do is let them know that you are doing it.
I don't know the scene, but I would be surprised if they had any objections in principle.

[Mind]

Please list any news websites we can/should promote the contest on. We'll do a big blitz next this week.

We should digg it for starters.

[Mind]

Another thought I had is to PM all the people who belong to the Longevity Meme folding team to make sure they are aware of the contest (in case they stopped folding for some reason and have forgotten about it).

[Mind]

I sent information to A4M and Kurzweilai.net for inclusion in their email newsletters.

[Mind]

I was going to post an explanation in the Folding Forums that Imminst is administering this prize for the benefit of basic scientific research, but it seems the "cash prize" thread has now been locked. Do you think we should start another thread without mentioning any team name?

What are some other forums we could post to?

[Live Forever]

I was going to post an explanation in the Folding Forums that Imminst is administering this prize for the benefit of basic scientific research, but it seems the "cash prize" thread has now been locked. Do you think we should start another thread without mentioning any team name?

What are some other forums we could post to?

I think as long as you don't mention the specific team, you should be alright. (presumably people could find it via google if they were very interested) Other science forums would probably be good to utilize. Really, any forum that someone goes to regularly, you could start a thread that said something like "Earn money for helping to fight disease with your computer" or something catchy like that to draw people to click the thread, then link to the splash page.

Edited by Live Forever, 26 March 2008 - 06:03 PM.

[Mind]

Well, I'll post around some places, but don't be shy Nate...go knock yourself out posting in other forums.

[Mind]

I updated the press release to include the link to the Splash page.

I sent emails to NYTimes, LATimes, and San Jose Mercury News with the press release attached. I am unsure how effective sending to major papers will be, but I figure might as well hit a few big ones...you never know.

Attached Files

•  F_H_Press_Release.doc   29KB   138 downloads

[dnamechanic]

I was going to post an explanation in the Folding Forums that Imminst is administering this prize for the benefit of basic scientific research, but it seems the "cash prize" thread has now been locked.

Previously, before about Dec-Jan there was such a forum for any news or team related activity. The policies new Folding forum don't allow anything that resembles recruiting. Could be that it is just a resource limitation for the forum and moderators.

Do you think we should start another thread without mentioning any team name?

I think they might like to be informed but it could be hard to formulate an announcement that didn't, either directly or, indirectly look like recruiting.

What are some other forums we could post to?

The official Stanford team list has teams ranked from top down. almost all these teams have forums.

I took a look at the two top teams: [H]ardOCP and Overclockers Australia

I didn't see a "News" section, seems as there should be one.

I am not sure about individual policies of these team sites regarding recruiting. It seems to me that any folding-related site that has a "News" or similar forum/thread title would not be adverse to a F@H prize announcement.

[Live Forever]

Well, I'll post around some places, but don't be shy Nate...go knock yourself out posting in other forums.

I posted at Betterhumans and one other forum I visit regularly (admittedly a college football forum, so there might not be many hits from there). I'll post a few other places as well.

Edited by Live Forever, 26 March 2008 - 09:34 PM.

[Mind]

Posted at Physics Forums

[dnamechanic]

Anyone have a Digg link that we can post in the open forums and try to encourage members to 'Digg it'?

If not, I can submit Reason's excellent Fight Aging announcement to Digg.

[Live Forever]

Anyone have a Digg link that we can post in the open forums and try to encourage members to 'Digg it'?

If not, I can submit Reason's excellent Fight Aging announcement to Digg.

I was going to submit the splash page link to digg earlier (or perhaps the link from the front page, which is basically the same thing), but digg seems to be down at the moment.

[dnamechanic]

Another thought I had is to PM all the people who belong to the Longevity Meme folding team to make sure they are aware of the contest (in case they stopped folding for some reason and have forgotten about it).

Good thought.

To my knowledge there is no way to communicate with TLM team members.

There is no central place where they would see the news except at the Longevity Meme site or here at ImmInst. Reason has a link at his Team sign-up page pointing to the "Support the Team" thread here.

[dnamechanic]

... Do you think we should start another thread without mentioning any team name?

I think as long as you don't mention the specific team, you should be alright...

Great! Looks like a friendly discussion thread got started there.

Do cash prizes increase participation?

[Mind]

I made a post in that thread. I hope they don't bring the smack down. I didn't mention any team name or put any links in the post....so no rules were broken.

Also sent info to newscientist.com and sciencedaily today.

Asked C.E.L. if they would put it in their news section.

[dnamechanic]

I made a post in that thread. I hope they don't bring the smack down.

This is an interesting thread.

Looks like it is interesting to others also, especially Moderators, so far four of them have posted in the thread.

[dnamechanic]

For the record, I saved an html version of the second thread posting at the Stanford Folding Forums (at some point in the moderation process).

 Folding_Forum___View_topic___Do_cash_prizes_increase_participation_page1.htm   47.41KB   127 downloads
 Folding_Forum___View_topic___Do_cash_prizes_increase_participation_page2.htm   17.85KB   136 downloads

[dnamechanic]

This is, I believe, the third try at the Folding Forums and appears to have already been moderated.
At least one post by 'Immortality Institute" is unaccounted for.

Edited by dnamechanic, 01 April 2008 - 03:18 AM.

[dnamechanic]

I continue to urge folders to register, with comments such as this:

Please list yourself as a participant in the Registration thread, it is required to compete for the prizes.

Points begin accumulating towards the prize only when you have registered.

It would not surprise me if someone, even a few, of the approximately 200 unregistered current contributors come up later and want their points counted from today, the beginning of the three month period.

They could probably have a legitimate plea ignorance for good reasons.

We probably should plan for this.

Are we going to be firm with the rules?

[Mind]

I think we should be firm with the rules, however I will defer to Reason as the ultimate authority on this question since he started the team and helped fund the prize.

[Live Forever]

As long as someone posts their name before the final date, I don't see why they shouldn't be counted for their entire contributions. That is just my 2 cents, though. (perhaps I am too lenient)

[Mind]

1. Imminst and Longevity Meme began this project with the thought of helping/increasing basic research and improving the visibility of both organizations. Imminst is the home of F@H prize administration and has donated money so it is not unreasonable to require people to register their screen name in the forums. It will make it much easier if everyone who wishes to compete for the prize is listed in one place. By registering at Imminst we have at least one way to contact them if they are a winner. Which brings me to....

2. The problem is that there is no way to mass email/PM/communicate with all the current members of the Longevity Meme folding team. Even if we automatically entered the entire team, we would not have a guaranteed way to contact the winners at the end of each quarter.

My feeling is that the best we can do is continue to work with the Longevity Meme over the course of the contest and let people know that they have to register here in order to win.

[dnamechanic]

Live Forever you are kind. I tend to want to be merciful also.

Mind, I agree with everything you said in the previous post.

Rules are important. I will continue to stress the registration process and emphasize the rules as I think we intended them.

Perhaps it will not be an issue. If it does arise, the final arbiters can consider all the merits of the case(s) and do what is right.

Mind, your topic #2 does emphasize the difficulty of getting word to existing contributors.

Reason has sent gifts (momentos) for milestone accomplishments (eg Rank 300 etc) in the past. He may still have a few of the older contributors email addresses. Maybe he will attempt to contact those with an announcement message. Since they were interested enough to contribute to the team at an earlier time, and they provided addresses at that time, it is likely they would be interested in The Prize.

[dnamechanic]

I can update the List of Registered Participants periodically. It might be good if a moderator removed the previous list after a reasonable time.

Also, I plan to open a new thread probably entitled:

Main: F@H Prize Competition & Progress

Subtitle: Graphic Display of Registered F@H Prize Contestant's Rank & Scores

It will have bar graphs that run horizontal, each bar will represent a contestant, length of bar will represent accumulated points:

- rank (relative to each other) as vertical position of the horizontal bars (top bar, person with highest points)
- their individual accumulated points (represented by length of bar and numerically labeled on the bar tip)

The format can be changed if something better arises.

For now I will be doing the data moving manuallly into Excel to create the graph.

After each update, it might be good for a moderator to remove the previous graph, so only the current one shows?

Suggestions? Opinions?

Edited by dnamechanic, 03 April 2008 - 06:43 PM.

[dnamechanic]

This is a Demo Chart.

Will wait until a few more of the contributors have folded a work unit (ie non-zero). Sometimes it may take 3 days or so to finish a work unit. Tomorrow will be about three days since start. There will probably be some 'zeros' for a while as new contributors sign on.

I may tweak the fonts and such.

[Mind]

Looks good to me.