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TKay | 8 months ago (raw) | export | reply | flag +3 
 What makes miners choose a specific pool over others? for example why would a lot of pool jump on the big pools and not spread out?

I understand they may find more blocks which means more frequent payments, but isn't it technically all the same in terms of chance and hashrate? so on a smaller pool you will get roughly the same amount just more slowly?

#asknostr
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Bitcoinium | 8 months ago (raw) | root | parent | reply | flag 
 There might be ideological reasons for some Bitcoiners to join certain pools. For instance, my understanding is that @OCEAN recently took a stance on ordinals and created a template (one out of three so people have the option to mine without filters) that filters them out when mining. They are willing to forgo premiums in transaction fees to "optimize"
for monetary Bitcoin transactions. So that is one alternate case....
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crypt0cranium | 8 months ago (raw) | root | parent | reply | flag 
 choice of company and a national entity earning the fees
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Bon | 8 months ago (raw) | root | parent | reply | flag 
 I chose Braiins just because it was simple to get a little more hash out of my machines with their easy to install firmware and reduced fees on their pool with that firmware.
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A.A.Ron | 8 months ago (raw) | root | parent | reply | flag 
 I am in Ocean because rumor has it they will start settling via lightning soon. That should reduce the minimum payment threshold down to where I'll actually get paid.
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Troy | 8 months ago (raw) | root | parent | reply | flag 
 The most common criteria are how pay is distributed, and payout conditions/frequency.
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jared | 8 months ago (raw) | root | parent | reply | flag 
 1. Payout structure (PPS+, FPPS, etc.)
2. How much of the hashrate the pool controls
3. Withdrawal limits & options
4. Policies and Legal constraints (e.g. KYC)
5. Protocol support & operational support (e.g. stratum V2 support, dashboards)

There are several points of differentiation pool operators can use to make a compelling offering for miners. It comes down to what sort of trade offs you want to make as a miner.