Why is aborting a game punished so harshly?

It's a minor nuance at worst, and it happens often that I missclick or change my mind after seeing the opponent. It looks like lichess will time you out the same way as if you left a game. Absurd.

It's because the other half of the questions in this forum have to do with, "Why is aborting a game not punished harshly enough?"

But seriously, your opponent wanted to play a game and you inconvenienced them, so something should be done, but not too much, but also not not enough...?

I misclick sometimes, although I couldn't be sure i've been punished.

I see no problem with an "are you sure" before the game starts though.

Another option would be to count aborts and use the result in ranking, or warn people about aborters, perhaps resetting the count after a few games.

Aborting the occasional game only gets you a warning. You need to abort several games in a row or a large percentage of your most recent n games in order to get a 10-minute ban. If you immediately start doing it again after the ban ends, you'll get exponentially longer bans.

I don't know the value of n, but I believe your game completion rate (as seen in your profile) is what counts.

Maybe it's to prevent people from aborting games against people whose rating is too low, because if everyone did that, then no games would ever get played. Some people might have the idea to only play people that are higher rated than them so they lose less rating if they lose and gain more if they win, perhaps.

@FreezingTiger

That's why there are rating filters :)

That's true but many players don't know about it.

You have more disconnections in a few games then I have in a thousand - Your account, your IP, your ability to play at the local club, your right to play in a public library, your chance of playing on your own board at home should all be TERMINATED WITHOUT NOTICE.

"Often I missclick"? What? You miss-doubleclick-into-resign? And what do you mean by "I change my mind when I see the opponent"? Only join sessions you want to join and only search according to the perimeters you wish to encounter! Just canceling on multiple people in a short time should be punished! There was a guy who kept joining my session before anyone else could and he always terminated the game before it started, I made a new session - he does it again. Well, holy schnitzels, amirite? But, finally, luckily, all praise stockfish 9, he gets banned! YES! People like you should have their computer & phone auctioned off and the money donated to LeelaChess0's progress, because at least when Leelachess disconnects it's a malfunction and not retardation. AYE.