Is this poor sportsmanship? Chessmanship?

I used to do it if it was blatantly a misclick. No problem with that.

But it was abused by so many users that I just disabled it.

I don't think it's poor sportsmanship to reject takeback requests.

I believe there is nothing wrong with asking for them and nothing wrong with rejecting them.

Like Episcopul, I have my move confirmation set, so I'm protected from mouse slips. I will not request takebacks and would probably accept most requests. But I feel it is totally up to the player and anything is fine.

I would hope/expect that takeback requests would only be made during casual games, but that's just my view on things. I figure if you're playing a rated game, you're focused.

Oh yeah, if both players are drinking (or whatever), them takebacks are cool...

This is will always be an issue unless the feature itself is removed. I know some players like it, and some players do not. However, this is a perfect example of how the community makes or breaks a feature. The constant choice to abuse the feature in lieu of using it honestly has lead many players like @theosarugambit and I having the similar opinion... we just disabled it in our settings. This unfortunately effects the users who use it properly as well.

Little can be done to curb the behavior other than making this a pay-to-use site. There is, unfortunately, a small portion of users on this site that just like to goof off and cause mayhem within the community. This is usually weeded out with having to pay per account. That being said though... I would never want lichess.org to go to that model. I think the larger chess community would suffer without such amazing free services like this website. I know that I have personally benefited so greatly from this website so I assume many others share my feelings of gratitude and see the benefits first hand of this remaining free and easy to access.

SO it is with that interest in mind that my general practice is to:
1. Go into zen mode before games
2. Disable take backs.
3. On completion of the game, the chat opens and If I want to discuss the match this is when I do so. If i receive hostility here, I simply ignore/block the player and never have to deal with them ever again.

Its up to the community to act and behave appropriately and also to use features the way they are intended to be used if we wan't to have nice things around here. =)

If it’s a good game why not accept obvious mouse slip?

@GMScuzzBall the only way you could pull that off is to modify how take backs currently work.

How do you know if the player is being honest and is going to move that same piece but to a different square... this wouldn't be a miss click as you intention clicked that piece and then another square and then realized you did not like it for what ever reason? You can only know once they replay the same piece... I've unfortunately been burned too many times when the player promises to move the same piece and then doesn't.

So how do you change the way it works?

Upon requesting a take-back it should ask you where you want to move that piece instead... and only offer that piece as a piece to move... and once you select your position you can then submit it to your opponent to accept or decline... If i'm presented with a position that obvious shows the player miss clicked by a square or two while analyzing then I would be more than happy to accept it knowing that the board will then automatically make that move for them and not allow a moment of dishonesty.

This is just my opinion. I don't manage a website that hosts thousands upon thousands of users though. This could have already been debated and tossed as an idea...

My post as #15 could also be looked at as a way of somewhat implementing the touch rule in chess. For those of you unfamiliar with the touch rule in over the board chess... once you touch a piece you have to move that piece as long as it has a legal move. It doesn't fully lock you that piece upon being clicked... but if you miss click its still a way for you to redo the move while enforcing the touch rule. I mean hypothetically speaking you were intending to move that piece....

Based on my experiences with tourists, event visitors and the like, I severely doubt pay-to-use site (that thus doesn't follow lichess philosophies) would stop goofing off and causing mayhem for amusement, Episcopul. Rather, it might create expectation and entitlement to being allowed to, as well as entrenching the "screw the rules, I have money".

Touch rule has always seemed somewhat inconsistent to me, tbh - a position where Kf2 is superior to Kf3 doesn't seem intrinsically more valuable than position where Kf2 is superior to Rf2, to say nothing of blockaded pawns. Unlike OTB, implementing it online doesn't serve the purpose of preventing clowning around with pieces, so there doesn't seem a reason to privilege it over other takebacks.

Takebacks? Learning through pain.

i'm of the opinion that takebacks lower the pressure of a game and hurt the growth of both players so i never accept them/ask them.
OTB, even just touching a piece is enough to be forced to move said piece so such carelessness should be equally punished in online rated games.
chess need to be brutal in its rules to have worth

I think taking back is bad sportmanship - especially if they require takeback only after seeing the consequences of their move after I moved again. Then 2 takebacks are necessary, and they usually click the second takeback request after robbing some time from my clock.

After somebody granted you a takeback, you should at least offer a draw when you finally are winning. But I never encountered opponents who did that, so it might be just me who expects that.