[QUOTE=jinydu;142478]At least the leaks appear to confined to German websites.[/QUOTE]Is it really a [i]leak[/i]? It seems to me to be nothing more than what is already publicly available on this forum.

[QUOTE=retina;142480]Is it really a [i]leak[/i]? It seems to me to be nothing more than what is already publicly available on this forum.[/QUOTE]

I agree. Unless someone actually disclosed the exponents before they are officially announced, I wouldn't call this a "leak."

[quote=retina;142480]Is it really a [I]leak[/I]? It seems to me to be nothing more than what is already publicly available on this forum.[/quote]Yes, so the correct term would be "misunderstanding" rather than "leak". It's like mistaking some condensation on the inside of a steel ship hull for water coming through a hull crack.

Again: _All_ this kerfluffle (e.g., mistaking verifiers for discoverers) can be avoided by simply not making any public announcement that a new prime has been discovered, until after verification is complete and complete information, including exponent, discoverer and verifier identities, is released as a package. It looks like v5 PrimeNet will be like that -- not divulging discovery before verification.

Well, it's always possible that the discoverer himself (or herself) becomes too excited about finding a Mersenne prime and starts bragging to all their friends about it! :smile:

[quote=biwema;142321]According to that report
( [URL]http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/mensch/0,1518,577935,00.html[/URL] )
one Prime number was probably found by a computer in Germany.

How can they know that?

It also says "...according to the german mathematician society"[/quote]

It could be [I]condensation[/I] of course, and it could also be simply untrue (for example they could have remembered/confused Nowak's discovery), but the Spiegel reports:
1. Both numbers have more than 10M digits and
2. one Prime number was found by a computer in Germany.

[SIZE=1]Most of the other blurbs are of course clones of each other, silly and hurtful only to their own paper's reputation.[/SIZE]

[quote=Andi47;142479]What is "Recherche" (for a newspaper article) in english?[/quote]

Recherche if [B]french[/B] for research

[QUOTE=coyote;142493]Recherche if [B]french[/B] for research[/QUOTE]

We also say "Recherche" in german (yes, this word comes obviously from french) if we search for literature, or if the press is searching for facts for e.g. a newspaper article. What is the correct english word for this press activity?

[QUOTE=Andi47;142494]What is the correct english word for this press activity?[/QUOTE]
In American English that would be either "getting a scoop" or "fact checking" depending on whether you searching for a first source of information or a secondary source to cross-check the first.

Research

It seems that the main danger with the current system (report the fact that a Mersenne prime discovery of an exponent has taken place, but not the exponent) is the media mis-stating the facts.

If the official press release were delayed much longer, could it be only a matter of time before a press outlet reports incorrect exponents, perhaps by misinterpreting a guess on this thread as a fact?

[QUOTE=jinydu;142505]It seems that the main danger with the current system (report the fact that a Mersenne prime discovery of an exponent has taken place, but not the exponent) is the media mis-stating the facts.

If the official press release were delayed much longer, could it be only a matter of time before a press outlet reports incorrect exponents, perhaps by misinterpreting a guess on this thread as a fact?[/QUOTE]

Normally (the last times) there was "only" one prime, which was verified in approx. 10 days and then released to press only a few hours after the verification has finished. Has there been any premature article (with M44, M43, M42, etc.) in press like the actual articles in German and Austrian papers? I don't know of any.

Now that we have 2 primes and [b]20[/b] days passed since the fisrst prime, there has been the double amount of time for the press to find out that a prime (or in this case two of them) has / have been discovered, and now it seems that several papers are getting impatient and print premature articles.

P.S.: I think the best time for sending the press release when you want to get the article into the monday papers is SUNDAY in the evening, so the best time would have been approx. 12-18 hours ago.