Eve Online Mining: Drifter battleships in the belt

My usual six-man fleet was mining in a .9 system when Apollo and Artemis Tyrannos paid us a visit in their Drifter battleships. Was interesting to watch them scan both asteroids and my ships.

Cooperate or compete?

I've been asked how I deal with the issue of mining etiquette, which means how do I react to other miners at a belt or anom. Some argue that "proper" mining etiquette dictates that whoever's there first should be allowed to mine undisturbed and the late comer should move along.

I disagree. We compete for resources so the question is simply, what's more efficient resource harvesting, competing or cooperating, and I'll do what seems more efficient. For example, I land at a belt with my six pilots and find a lone Mackinaw or Retriever. I'll scan the belt and if the belt is still rich enough, I'll mine it. The single miner that was already there can compete or move, his call. He'll have very little impact on my Hulks. If I want to send him a message, I can view his ship, see what roids he's working, and mine them from under him, but I rarely do that unless I'm trying to encourage that pilot to find a new system.

On the other hand, if a mining fleet similar to mine is at a belt, I move on because butting heads with that group simply wouldn't be efficient - unless I want to discourage them from working that particular system. In general, it's best not to feel too possessive about roids, belts or systems, but sometimes you do need to fight for what you consider valuable resources or situations.