Re: Any way to tell what features contributed the most for a particular decision?

> Thanks! That's what I was afraid of. I was hoping that I could get
> something out of the Bayesean/Markov ones.
> 
> The challenge is, when using this for a client, they'd like to see
> reports of the most significant features. I may try to build a
> "debug" data structure for the hyperspace classifier that holds more
> information.

I realize that it's difficult to dissuade a client of his perceived
needs, and counter to the entire sales process, but this is one
situation where I'd advise it.

The report being requested is of academic value only. It's a curiosity
without any beneficial business application as if they were manually
tuning the filter. It's an inefficient, even counter-productive, use of
resources.

"Hey, it's their money." If you need the work or it's otherwise not
worthwhile to disabuse them of the notion that they need that
particular report then at least warn them of the what *can* be done
with it. A successful penetration based on that information is the
least concern. More seriously (and admittedly dependent on the training
method), it's hypothetically possible to conduct a Denial of Service
attack based on an intimate knowledge of the classifier. At the very
least, detailed classifier feature reports could be used to reduce the
efficacy of the filter, but scarcely used to enhance it.

See if you can find out what data they really need and supply a
relevant, and safer, report to meet the need.

Chris

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