On 9/5/06, Albert Silver <address@hidden> wrote:
(...) The only point where
I'd consider tightening up, or leaving it at 0.160 would be in
non-contact races where the chance of such large cube mistakes is
extremely low. However, for contact positions, I see (and make) so
many blunders (WT, WP, MD, etc.) that to skip over them because they
are larger than 0.160 is a genuine mistake IMHO.
They are not skipped when it comes to adding up the total cube errors value. This discussion is just about counting the
number of decisions.
Note that GNUBG will always count any actual cube decisions, including wrong doubles that are not close and wrong passes/takes that are not close.
So if you double and it's a no double by more than 0.16, the decision will still simply count for one (and any error added to the total because you made an actual decision. Your opponent's decision to take or pass will also count for one (and any error added total).
The count is only relevant for the positions where you don't double; GNUBG tries to determine whether it was obvious that you didn't double then by using the 0.16 threshold. It is somewhat arbitrary, but 0.16 doesn't seem unreasonable.
There's also many positions, especially in matchplay, where a No Double is a lot closer than 0.16 yet an obvious No Double, so that may compensate a bit for >0.16 No Doubles that may not be obvious.