Re: computer-go: Authenticating the identity of a remote go-playing computer program

["Mark Boon" <tesuji@xxxxxxxxx>]

Here a different point of view: making a Go program is a lot of work.
Organizing or entering a tournament is relatively very little work. I'm
happy to fly to the other side of the world and put in the moves by hand, if
only I don't need to program communication protocols or other, non Go
programming related, requirements which take away time I could spend
improving the program.

Actually, I never really understood people who wish to automate computer-Go
tournaments just because they can. In my opinion it takes a lot of the fun
away. Do you really expect someone to work for several years, only to enter
a tournament which is run remotely or automatically? So that a few days
later he gets a message: "Dear Sir, your program finished 5th, we will
e-mail you the game-records promptly. We hope you'll be participating again
next year." On the contrary, these events should be used as a rare
opportunity to get the best Go programmers together in a single place and
have them share their ideas.

    Mark Boon