Benchmarks mailing list

[Scott.Fahlman@B.GP.CS.CMU.EDU]

Two or three weeks ago I sent a message to this mailing list announcing our
intention to set up at CMU a collection of learning benchmarks, accessible
via FTP from the Arpanet.  The hope is that this collection will help the
research community in our joint effort to characterize the speed and
quality of various learning algorithms on a variety of different learning
tasks.  There were a few problems in getting the new mailing lists set up
over the holidays, but I believe we're now ready to proceed.

I anticipate that there will be considerable discussion about the
usefulness of various benchmarks, how they should be run, results, etc.
Rather than clog the "connectionists" mailing list with these
benchmark-related messages, we have set up a new mailing list whose Arpanet
address is "nn-bench at cs.cmu.edu".  If you want to be added to this mailing
list, send an "add me" message to "nn-bench-request at cs.cmu.edu".  Please
include a valid netmail address that we can reach from the Arpanet.  If
messages to the address you give start bouncing, we'll have to delete you
from the list.

The "nn-bench-request" address is also the proper destination for "delete
me" requests, address changes, and other messages intended only for the
mailing list and data base maintainers.  Please do not send such messages
to "nn-bench" -- you will inconvenience a lot of people and make yourself
look like a fool.  At present, the mailing list maintainers are Michael
Witbrock and me.

If you just want to access the benchmark collection and not participate in
the related discussions, you don't have to join the "nn-bench" mailing
list.  Once there is a useful collection of files in one place, I will tell
people on the "connectionists" mailing list how to access them.

I suggest we wait until January 15 or so before we start discussing
substantive issues on the "nn-bench" list.  This will give people time to
join the mailing list before the fun begins.  We will archive old messages
for those who join later.

-- Scott Fahlman, CMU