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Subject: Re: Moderate Bean Counting

Author: Bruce Moreland

Date: 09:15:05 07/02/00

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On July 02, 2000 at 07:23:04, Chris Whittington wrote:

>On July 02, 2000 at 05:21:45, Bruce Moreland wrote:
>>
>>Nobody is going to sit down and do psycho-statistical analysis of a thread's hit
>>count drop-off rate.
>
>Tres drole. Sorry about the lack of accents.
>
>Most persons, with half a brain even, would be able to instantly intuit sensible
>conclusions from readcount data. Quite why you would imagine it necessary to
>perform SSDF-like statistical analysis to several places of decimals presumably
>with degrees of confidance figures attached escapes me. Or are you arguing on a
>reducto absurbam basis? I thought I already made it clear the idea of having the
>data was just an aid to avoid the danger of being too arbitrary and subjective.
>

I think the data would be useless.  The interpretation is everything, and it's
likely that the data would support any interpretation.

I don't see how you can object to the possibility of using math on numbers, but
I doubt there is any math that would help, either.

>>If the data were recorded with intent to use it as an aid
>>in helping out with moderation decisions, all that would happen is that 1) The
>>moderators would use the data (any data) to bolster their existing opinions
>>about topicality, and 2) People who aren't moderators would use it in order to
>>bolster complaints:  "You said my C++ post is off-topic but the page was
>>refreshed 13 times."
>
>Your point (1) shows a degree of cynicism to the moderators and their decision
>making processes.
>
>Your point (2) shows a degree of cynicism to members and their tendency to
>complain. Or their motivations for doing so.
>
>I share your frustrations.
>
>>
>>Sorry, but I don't agree that the intended purpose of this feature is necessary
>>or desirable.
>
>But clearly there is little shared agreement on how to 'fix' problems, such as
>those exampled by the Gerber-Hyatt threads. Are they 'unfixable'?

Bob gets caught in personal conflicts every once in a while, and however you
interpret this is up to you.  I didn't think there was much of a problem with
the Hans Gerber thing since I didn't read very much of it.  I doubt any
statistics would have been of any use other than as something additional to
fight over.

I can criticize the governance of this group, but mostly it works, and there
isn't any need for new "political" features.  If Tim is going to add more stuff,
I think his time would be better spent enhancing his diagram stuff, perhaps
something that would eat an entire PGN and let you examine a game in-line would
be good.

bruce




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