Your policy on blocking? • page 1/3 • General Chess Discussion • lichess.org

Just out of curiosity, what's your personal policy for blocking people? For me, it's mainly two things: 1)anyone who in a losing position just runs out the clock or cusses you out after losing (or sometimes winning), and 2) anyone who does early queen- or knight/bishop attacks (you know which ones I mean). If someone opens with that, I immediatly forfeit the match and block whoever it was. Yes yes, I know it's a perfectly valid strategy, but having spent time in the 900-ish zone where 8 out 10 games started with that one opening I simply cant stand it anymore!

Free win if you ever play against me, just FYI.

Just out of curiosity, what's your personal policy for blocking people? For me, it's mainly two things: 1)anyone who in a losing position just runs out the clock or cusses you out after losing (or sometimes winning), and 2) anyone who does early queen- or knight/bishop attacks (you know which ones I mean). If someone opens with that, I immediatly forfeit the match and block whoever it was. Yes yes, I know it's a perfectly valid strategy, but having spent time in the 900-ish zone where 8 out 10 games started with that one opening I simply cant stand it anymore! Free win if you ever play against me, just FYI.

g6firste6second

edited

#2

@PatBerg said in #1:

If someone opens with that, I immediatly forfeit the match and block whoever it was.
Free win if you ever play against me, just FYI.

appreciate your honesty, classic case of sandbagging here, and your temp ban will be arriving in due time, thanks

@PatBerg said in #1: > If someone opens with that, I immediatly forfeit the match and block whoever it was. > Free win if you ever play against me, just FYI. appreciate your honesty, classic case of sandbagging here, and your temp ban will be arriving in due time, thanks

Shadow1414

#3

• They block me.
• They clock-stall.
• They position-stall.
• They spam my inbox.
• They offer draws in clearly worse positions.
• They ask me to tell someone to unblock them.
• They behave aggressively towards me in forums or PMs.
• They cheat against me (I’m considering changing that; I’m running out of slots to block people. Plus, this one doesn’t annoy me nearly as much as the others).

Currently, I sit at an impression 241 blocks. One of captain Black Lightning Shadow's greatest achievements.

• They block me. • They clock-stall. • They position-stall. • They spam my inbox. • They offer draws in clearly worse positions. • They ask me to tell someone to unblock them. • They behave aggressively towards me in forums or PMs. • They cheat against me (I’m considering changing that; I’m running out of slots to block people. Plus, this one doesn’t annoy me nearly as much as the others). Currently, I sit at an impression 241 blocks. One of captain Black Lightning Shadow's greatest achievements.

nadjarostowa

#4

Blocking only makes sense if you would face them again (regularly). There is no point in blocking someone that you had a short interaction with. Chances to be paired with them again are usually pretty small, unless you are playing in niches.

If you resign games simply because you don't like your opponents' strategies you deserve to be banned. I totally see being confronted with nonsense openings feels bad and seems a complete waste of time... yet, you should be able to beat them.

I doubt it's 8 out of 10, and if it is, you either should beat them and be out of their rating range in no time. It surely won't happen that much in higher ratings, because playing stupid is not a very good strategy.

I am really curious when people have long lists of blocked users... I rarely get any insult at all, neither in chats, nor in my inbox. With around 40k games played over the years, the number of users that sent block-worthy messages was probably below 10.

But it's probably a bit dependent on the rating... In the upper regions people might have already learned to value the game and the people (also much less spammy kids), and behave accordingly (just statistically - there will still be many exceptions on both ends).

But usually, simply ignoring them (or playing something else) seems enough for me, unless they really follow through or you get paired again and again.

Blocking only makes sense if you would face them again (regularly). There is no point in blocking someone that you had a short interaction with. Chances to be paired with them again are usually pretty small, unless you are playing in niches. If you resign games simply because you don't like your opponents' strategies you deserve to be banned. I totally see being confronted with nonsense openings feels bad and seems a complete waste of time... yet, you should be able to beat them. I doubt it's 8 out of 10, and if it is, you either should beat them and be out of their rating range in no time. It surely won't happen that much in higher ratings, because playing stupid is not a very good strategy. I am really curious when people have long lists of blocked users... I rarely get any insult at all, neither in chats, nor in my inbox. With around 40k games played over the years, the number of users that sent block-worthy messages was probably below 10. But it's probably a bit dependent on the rating... In the upper regions people might have already learned to value the game and the people (also much less spammy kids), and behave accordingly (just statistically - there will still be many exceptions on both ends). But usually, simply ignoring them (or playing something else) seems enough for me, unless they really follow through or you get paired again and again.

a_Tauri edited

#5

@PatBerg said in #1:

Just out of curiosity, what's your personal policy for blocking people?

So far, I've never blocked anyone. I would only do it if someone was being insulting, or if I frequently encountered someone who consistently behaves non well ( for example, if they always abandon without resigning ). But it has never happened so far.

As for the rest, it seems to me that the game of chess is this: White makes a move of his own choosing, Black responds with another move of his own choosing, then White makes another move at will, Black responds at will, and so on, until one of the two is checkmated or decides to resign.
Why should I refuse to play with someone who doesn't play the way I like ? How he plays has to please him, not me.

@PatBerg said in #1: > Just out of curiosity, what's your personal policy for blocking people? So far, I've never blocked anyone. I would only do it if someone was being insulting, or if I frequently encountered someone who consistently behaves non well ( for example, if they always abandon without resigning ). But it has never happened so far. As for the rest, it seems to me that the game of chess is this: White makes a move of his own choosing, Black responds with another move of his own choosing, then White makes another move at will, Black responds at will, and so on, until one of the two is checkmated or decides to resign. Why should I refuse to play with someone who doesn't play the way I like ? How he plays has to please him, not me.

Cedur216

#6

When I play in pool I block anyone who I don't wish to play anytime soon again.

nadjarostowa

#7

@a_Tauri said in #5:

Why should I refuse to play with someone who doesn't play the way I like ? How he plays has to please him, not me.

I guess it depends on what you're after. But some people very clearly only play to flag you, or play utterly stupid stuff, like 1.e4 d5 2. exd5 Bf5, or 1... a5, 2... Ba6 etc.

If your aim is to play a sensible game of chess, not to prove that you can win against "idiots", then the next 2, 5, 10, 20 minutes or whatever are a complete waste of your lifetime. If you win, you got nothing out of this game, and if you don't (which you very well might, as it might be quite hard to concentrate against this nonsense, lacking all motivation to do so), you not only wasted your time but also your rating.

In fact, valuing my time a bit, those opponents are the first ones I'd consider to block.

@a_Tauri said in #5: > Why should I refuse to play with someone who doesn't play the way I like ? How he plays has to please him, not me. I guess it depends on what you're after. But some people very clearly only play to flag you, or play utterly stupid stuff, like 1.e4 d5 2. exd5 Bf5, or 1... a5, 2... Ba6 etc. If your aim is to play a sensible game of chess, not to prove that you can win against "idiots", then the next 2, 5, 10, 20 minutes or whatever are a complete waste of your lifetime. If you win, you got nothing out of this game, and if you don't (which you very well might, as it might be quite hard to concentrate against this nonsense, lacking all motivation to do so), you not only wasted your time but also your rating. In fact, valuing my time a bit, those opponents are the first ones I'd consider to block.

Thymeflies

#8

Geez, a whole policy for blocking? You guys have really thought this through. Impressively, on my main account I’ve got zero humans on my block list and that’s with nearly 10k games, 1k posts, and leading a team. Either I’m extremely placid or...

Shadow1414

#9

#7: Chess is a hobby: It’s something that we do to waste time. If you don’t want your time to be wasted, then don't waste it yourself. Instead, do something productive with your life. Go to a gym, clean your room, use the internet to learn something about the world that you live in. Those things would be more productive than moving pieces on a board.

Thymeflies

#10

Perhaps some of us don’t consider chess a waste of time. How exactly is using the internet to ‘learn something about the world’ inherently more productive than playing chess? I’m interested in your take on this. Productivity is just a construct no? If enjoyment counts as wasting time, then what isn’t? Some questions to think about...