I keep reading this over and over...
Now, million bitcoin question: How the hell do they decide which transactions to include?
Or does this question need another thread?
Priority is calculated from the size of the transaction (in kb) and the length of time the sending account has been idle. This is necessary to prevent transaction spam. If your transaction is low priority, the client should suggest a fee Be included.
If it's an algorithm that calculates the transaction priority and decides if it's included in the block or not, people should stop saying that whoever finds the block is the one to decide to include transactions(or not).
If it's like you say, miners don't decide s***. The software does, without any input from them.
The big pools actually do customize their rules. BTC Guild never pays fees on their own payouts, for example, because their node software will always accept them, even if other pools do not. And I think that slush will automatically accept any and all transactions without regard to fees paid, but don't quote me on that.