Would it make sense to have a payment system in which the user who solves a block for the pool, gets an additional reward, i.e. 0.5 BTC or even 1 BTC?
This way there would be extra incentive to join, being given a shot at hitting a small jackpot without having to to mine solo against astronomical odds, while not taking away too much from the pool in relative terms?
I don't know if this has been discussed or done before, or even is being done... I think it could do well for the dynamic of a pool.
No.
All it does is increase variance.
Yes, I figured that the idea must have been explored before. From the perspective of the pool operator, i.e. you, it should make not much of a difference, in terms of earnings.
True, the 'jackpot feature' would attract users on one hand, but also, on the other hand, tons of speculation and hopping in and out... didn't think of that.
Well the main problem is that you have no control at all over when you find a block.
Some miners will never find blocks, some less than their expected share of blocks, while others will find more than their expected share.
It's random.
I see no reason why you should reward some miners more than they should get, because their miner randomly found more blocks than they are expected to find.
You can't make a single miner find more blocks. It's completely out of your control.
If someone is deluded and believes they are lucky and will find more blocks, then good on them - see you later, go mine somewhere else
The payout here pays each miner equally fairly based on the work they do.
Seems like a good idea to me, though those with gambling addictions may not agree
Basically a 'block finder reward' is a way to attract gambling addicts, who think they can make more than they are expected to make, than everyone else on the pool, if "their miner is lucky"
The net result is to attract some small miners who hope to take away rewards from larger miners, rather than get rewarded what they should get.
I'm not interested in attracting such people
Last thing I want to do is scare off larger miners.
Long term it simply increases variance, but short term it gives people a possibility or getting lucky then doing a runner
They can go do that on that other pool that uses that ridiculous luck based reward system.
Also... agreed 100% that Tom didn't do any more work than Jack, if his machine happened to solve a certain block and it is correct that Tom and Jack deserve the same payout.
However:
I do understand that you show who solves what block for the sake of total transparency. But wouldn't this, as well as a 'Block Acclaim' table, precisely bring about a sense, albeit a false sense, of entitlement?
I see that I am discussing something to no end or purpose, as I do agree with your point...
