Earlier quoted context omitted.
Whenever I see frontpages for these kinds of projects like "a faster X" or "X written in Blub", the first thing I want to see on the frontpage is how this new project compares to X in terms of quality and performance. Even specious benchmarks would help more than zero benchmarks. I wish more frontpages for these kinds of projects would do that.
"Even specious benchmarks would help more than zero benchmarks." I disagree. Zero benchmarks is definitely better than specious benchmarks.
As to your point, obviously no one should be making any decisions off of flawed benchmarks, but flawed benchmarks (not so far as outright lies, just flawed) at least give me an objective justification to investigate further.
Even some flawed benchmarks could help turn the initial tide of responses like "this is X written in Blub, it's bound to be better!" or "this is a faster X! Now everything will be twice as fast!" They're silly examples, but it seems like every time a new technology comes out, these are the kinds of knee-jerk, overly-optimistic reactions people tend to have.