[atlas] Private Probes: What's the Point

Hi Jon!

On 2015-10-19 05:00, Jonathan Brewer wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> I've run into a few probes marked private, and when I've found & asked the owners,
> they didn't realise they'd done anything restrictive or harmful to researchers by
> marking their probes private.
> 
> Intrigued at this phenomena, I had a look at the probe metadata. Right now I think
> there are 1,534 Atlas probes that are active and connected to the network, but
> marked private.
> 
> What's the point of having private probes in the network? Do their hosts still"
> earn credits they can use on public probes? Should they be? Are private probe
> hosts helping the project?

IIRC, we did have quite a bit on the topic of labelling probes as "private", but
I would have to do some digging to find the references to that discussion..

But before chiming in ith my personal point of view, may I ask the Atlas Team
to summarize what the effects of "private" are. I seem to remember that private
probes *do* participate in the built-in measurements. I may be wron, though.

> The FAQ says nothing about private probes, so I thought I would ask here.

I think it is pretty useful to have another look at that setting.

> Thanks,
> 
> Jon

Cheers,
Wilfried