BB+ wrote:Things aren't as bad as they once were. TalkChess is (at least currently) not censoring it.
Let's not forget how one mod who also happens to be a Rybka beta tester almost destroyed that site until the new mod team got in. It's only a matter of time before the "right" mod gets in again. I haven't logged in there since June, perhaps I will again if there's something really interesting.
There might be a structural problem there. Funny, one time I mistakenly went to a sub-forum (hidden from the public), where you'll find the most homophobic, racist, and bigoted-toned nonesense spewed, and posted a science
article. In attempt to be funny, I used the word "anus" in describing a planet. A mod there who is very prone to using foul language, was at this time actually banned from posting on the main forum for bad behaviour, de-activated my account for a week. Come to find out, he has the bottle problem, but there were reports of him seeking help. For the record, am not making light of the problem, though still awaiting an apology -- one of the steps required -- at least George Costanza from a Seinfeld episode thinks so... He also accused me of being a cloner/clone promoter or something of that nature, lol.
So to recapitulate: CCRL (or CEGT) is a pooled league with its own rating list. This could be re-phrased as saying it's a bunch of individual testers, each with his own "league", who then merge together their results to make a meta-rating list. So then, why stop there in doing this meta-operation? Why not include CEGT or SWCR in with CCRL results? If FIDE doesn't have separate ratings for "separate conditions", why should computer chess? [The CCRL statement "We thought that our hobby would be more meaningful if we combined our results by being part of a group" begs the question: why not pool your results more widely?]. As has been pointed out in other places the "standard conditions" of these leagues can often be rather lacking in uniformity across testers (such as benchmarking to find out what "40/40" on a given computer means). The current situation seems to be one where you are either in a CCRL/CEGT "circle" or you're not, and such decisions seem more based on social aspects (or even the politics of exclusion) rather than anything else.
What you are saying is that different hardware used by different testers matter. For example 40/40 on a i7 machine is not the same on Core 2 Duo. So why not combine all results including those from other websites you ask? Not a bad idea at all since essentially what they are doing is the same, but at a much smaller scale. A third party might have to realize your idea.
Jeremy Bernstein wrote:
I suspect that this is probably a bit unfair. I doubt that there is a direct relationship between Rybka and CCRL (maybe a couple of CCRL testers are Rybka beta testers, but that's not really a big deal). However, I am willing to wager that CCRL testers haven't had to dole out much, if any, money on the commercial chess engines they test, and that they have access to unreleased (tournament-variant or beta) versions of many other engines. And that they cherish the relationships which feed this aspect of their hobby, as well as the sense that they occupy an important place in the community at large. I don't think that this is limited to Rybka, though. Testing unvetted engines would most definitely piss off the Rajlichs, [retracted], etc. and that might be it for the promotional consideration they receive. They're just protecting their privileges.
Honestly, I don't think the assesment was unfair or out-of-line -- put in context, this has nothing to do with vetted or unvetted chess engine because if such was the case, Rybka would not be on their list of engines. Yes, it has to do with protecting privilege of getting to test Rybka and getting a free copy. But also, there definitely is an emotional attachment. They hold the view Rybka sales will be hurt if it is no longer the engine on top of their list -- an opinion they've expressed. An independent tester's job is to provide data; not to promote a particular engine. You were part of the mod team that included one of these Rybka testers, do you think he holds an independent position or has an emotional attachment?
No answer needed!