First Move Wait Time is an Abomination

Every time I have to sit there and wait 25 seconds (or even 35 seconds, as in classical) for a visibly disconnected player to time out, all I can picture is some nondescript Lichess admin and how I want to strap them down a la Clockwork Orange and make them sit there, just staring at nothing, for 25 seconds.

In some cases, the wait times for the first move are longer than the entire games! Who could possibly see that state of affairs and not realize how stupid it is?! Anyone playing a blitz or bullet session knows that this is an EXCRUCIATING wait time, especially if you're coming off a loss and want to get straight back into it. If someone's internet is so bad that they need 25" to play their first move, then they're going to need that sort of time for each move. You can't play bullet or blitz like that in the first place; it serves a non-existent constituency. If my opponent needed some extra time to pick their nose, sip their coffee, or get a dingleberry outta their crack, then they can do that on *their own time* before starting the game.

If a player is showing as offline, that wait time should be 5". Otherwise, 10" max. This would be the most popular site update ever made. Please, for the sake of all that is holy, address this boring nightmare.

If the player is offline before his first move, I believe you can abort without penalty.

Imagine spending 25 seconds not playing chess :((((

25 whole seconds????

You have my deepest sympathies, that sounds unbearable. Imagine all nothing worth caring about that you could have done in those 25 seconds.

I take it that @cheddarman1 and @chuck_fess spent only 10 seconds thinking up their responses; had they spent 25 seconds, they would have come to the obvious conclusion that being bored for 10 seconds is preferable to being bored for 25 seconds.

I hope you both get the full 30" ads on Youtube for the rest of your lives. A pox on you.

Very tasteful.

I use an Adblock and have never seen an ad on youtube on my computer, by the way. For someone so busy that having to wait an extra 15 seconds is an “abomination,” I would have expected you to already know about this.

Fill in the 15 seconds by typing "the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog" several times.

Man, what the heck is with these comments? Is there some sort of psychosexual masochist community dominating (no pun intended) the Lichess forums who enjoys the needless waiting? Is it, like, a self-denial gratification? Or is it just Lichess fanboy shillery? Maybe you will get the LM title - but at what cost?!?

@chuck_fess Oh, the ads are coming. I'm consulting a voodoo witch to play a hex on your Adblocker program; it's gonna be a lot of dog food and mascara ads for you, son.

It is a response to your absurd hyperbole over having to wait 15 seconds in case your opponent does in fact enter the game and make a move. "Abomination" and "excruciating" are some of the words you used. Gain some perspective, for your own sake.

I didn't mean to offend your delicate verbal sensibilities! Obviously you're impervious to fun, so I concede.

But returning to the substance of the post for the first time since the OP, why are you straw-manning it down to 15 seconds if you think there's nothing to be said? A bit suspect!