I completely understand why some people dislike PRL. The project intends to provide storage data in return for some CPU power when you browse select websites that use the script.
However, many people mindlessly accuse PRL of being bad for doing so. Because who would want to get “stolen” out of CPU power when you can just use ad blockers, or even if you don’t use ad blockers? As a result, many people end up spreading lies and FUD without having proper information about these different situations.
In order to lighten the air and clear some things up, I’m going to give you guys some info and some facts.
1
Both AdBlockers and ads themselves use CPU power
Which means that people saying “I’m better off using adblock or watching ads because they don’t use CPU processing power” are wrong.
2
Can’t I just mine?
When you mine, you are actively competing with miners, not to mention your electricity use will be much much higher, mining is in an entirely different category. Oyster mining or “diving” differs from regular mining, it’s different and it’s designed to be lightweight and only use a small CPU %.
3
Getting rid of ads is so simple, other projects do the same
You see, getting rid of ads is just one of the many things that Oyster can do. While the project does get rid of ads, it can also allow for anonymous storage and dApps which will be implemented after their Mainnet release, not to mention Oyster can be implemented into apps in order to allow for ad-free applications which means less cost in order to own apps and more screen space, as well as not having annoying publicity displayed on loading screens and such.
4
Won’t Oyster Pearl use a lot of CPU power?
Simply put, no. Oyster Pearl implements a technology called “fragile loop”, which means it can monitor the browser performance in real time so it can reduce the burden on the CPU should it start using too much processing power. Oyster intends to use about as much CPU % as normal ads, which means you shouldn’t have to worry about anything, a website as Oyster should perform the same as any other ad-full website.
5
Do users have to setup anything in order to run Oyster?
No. Oyster is activated by adding a few script code lines by the website developers, which means end users do not have to do anything in order to run the script.
6
Can anti-virus/anti-malware block Oyster Pearl?
Oyster is very similar to the Cookie Law in the way that it runs automatically, however, users themselves can block it because it’s a script. However, given the fact that it has no impact on the performance, as previously explained, users will not have a reason to block the script from running and it’s only recommended they do run it so that they can compensate the websites which will be earning PRL.
7
CPU processing power usage clarification
Oyster has been coded to perform with the same CPU usage % when compared to advertisements on a webpage. As different web pages can have a different number of advertisements, the CPU usage % can vary a bit (but not much).
Whether you see ads or use adblock, both of these will use about the same CPU %. When you do the switch to Oyster, you are getting rid of both, which means technically, that since you will be using the same extra CPU % as ads or the adblocker were previously using, you should have no CPU performance impact, or at least a very negligible one. However, several other things go beyond what I can explain.
A website might, for instance, run the Oyster script as well as use ads, which means it will have more processes running in your own CPU, which in fact means you will use more CPU %! Now, I’m not sure if having adblock enabled on a page where it’s not needed will use the same CPU % as if it was blocking ads on that page, but if it does indeed use that extra CPU power even though it’s not filtering ads, then that means that for users who have adblock + Oyster you will be using extra CPU power %.
While I want to bring meaningful information and insight into the table, as well as clearing FUD. I cannot 100% confirm Oyster will not use extra processing power because different situations have different outcomes. An example is what I previously said, a website can run ads and also use Oyster.
Notably, if all websites were to deactivate ads and nobody needed to use adblockers and thus, run Oyster alone, you should be using about the same CPU % as without Oyster, but since all websites dropping ads is actually something that most likely won’t happen, then we’ve got to take into account these different factors.
I should also further clarify that all the previous examples were referring to one tab open on one browser.
If we decide to bring the discussion into how adblockers scale and compare to Oyster running on several tabs on one browser, then CPU % starts to differ. You see, whether you run adblock on one tab or multiple, the CPU % won’t increase by much. However when running Oyster on different tabs, each tab will run the process and thus use more CPU %. Effectively making Oyster more energy dispendant than adblockers.
Now, take note Oyster can be deactivated. Oyster by nature will have a default “cookie law”-like popup that will warn you and allow you to cancel Oyster to be ran on your PC should you want that.
These are only a few questions and answers in order to clear up some doubts about the project. While Oyster Pearl might or might not survive and be mass adopted, it’s clearly a project anyone should be looking forward to. It has great potential and it might just be what we need in order to get rid of the annoying website ads that we all hate.
Disclaimer: I do not own any PRL nor do I intend to.
If you’d like to read more about ad purging cryptocurrencies, perhaps take a look at our latest BAT news article.
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