Thibault, respect! I really wasn't meaning to cause such a big debate, I was really quite saddened by it if i'm honest. I LOVE lichess i'm such a big fan of the site and open source material in general.
I felt quite surprised by the email and thought I would see what others thought. Clearly it's a mixed bag hehe.
Shall we forget all this
@thibault and move on :)? I will donate and I will get my partner to as well.
Happy days :)
@Sarg0n It's OK, you can calm down now dude, you've missed the boat lol.
I know thibault for 15+ years now, I can confirm there is a misunderstanding. Please take for granted he didn't mean to sound sarcastic or whatever.
I understand one can read it like you did; but sincerely the answer should be read as "donate the amount you want, 1$ or x$, the point is that it's meaningful to YOU, and helpful to lichess community"
thank you
(now the hard work I have to solve that puzzle)
For whatever it's worth, I definitely agree with Vegan that the wording of the reply seems to imply that $1 will get you wings, but that it's pretty cheap.
Actually, I'm not sure what else the wording of "if $1 is what lichess is worth to you" is supposed to be included for if not that
Innovation does not stop. If it does not happen here, it will happen elsewhere. I'm currently playing at a site which implemented Seirawan chess and 4 player chess. If money begins to dominate this site instead of innovation I'm out of here. As I left
chess.com for the same reasons.
Recently innovation is lacking, new ideas are swept aside, so
chess.com-ization is under way.
As someone who englishes :) I will say the response did puzzle me a LITTLE but I don't see how any harm or hurtful message was suppose to be implied. Like above someone mentioned that probably it was not sent by a native English speaker. And no harm was intended. As you can see the OP is not that effected by it and is even offering to donate still.
1. Thibault's wording was perfectly fine as he stated exactly what he meant, you yourself are to blame for reading the nonexistant sarcasm.
2. Thibault spent his free time to build this site for you and everyone else in this community for FREE. He doesn't owe anyone in this community any manners at all. You're DONATING to Lichess, not PAYING. Also the animal charity is a terrible comparison.
3. Why go through all that fuss just to make Thibault say he was rude instead of just admitting you read his reply wrong and responded disproportionally?
4. Your reply is extremely rude and Thibault's polite responses in the e-mail and in this thread prove the exact opposite of what you claim.
I read the statements and though a little unnecessary words were injected in the first portion and not addressing directly in the second portion (basically a deflection but in a nice way), it's still fine. Try losing 50% of your wealth due to continued unlawful upward manipulation of the stock market and then we can share stories. This site is terrific and not full of the garbage you have to encounter by the moderators at
chess.com.
Doesn't matter whether the site's free or not, a snotty reply is a snotty reply and it certainly comes off that way. Making the site free doesn't give thibault a license to be rude to prospective donors.
If you don't want people donating just to get the wings, don't have the wings, as their purpose seems to be to encourage people to donate the amount required to get them. If you think $1 isn't a sufficiently appreciative amount of money, then don't state on the site that $1 is enough to earn wings.
Also what's up with the "you took it out of context by not including the bit about the mobile app" accusation in thibault's initial reply in this thread? The mobile app bit doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the discussion. Very weird and defensive.
I agree - that was rude answer. And I doubt that was a language barrier. The insult was intended.
I can only interpret such an answer as "you are so cheap, why u even bother us with your miserable 1.00 donation".
Instead, the proper answer should be "Yes, $1 is enough to earn Donor Wings. We appreciate any donations. Thank you."
Lichess staff should learn some manners and how to answer emails properly.
Whoever write that impolite answer - you better apologize. Defending yourself now in the forum is not a good move.
