On what I regard to be a basic lack of knowledge of sportsmanship and manners

@Timegod That's a gross misrepresentation of my post.

1. I never said "how rude the the majority of the community is." You actually got that from reading my post? From what sentence or sentences? Nowhere in the post did I say or imply that I was offended by players leaving a game without saying anything; and nowhere in the entire post did I even use the word "rude." Somehow, you seem to have ignored the main idea of the post, which I state repeatedly: It's advantageous to a defeated player to say "Good game," not because it happens to be good manners, but because it puts the player in the mindset of rebounding from a defeat and learning from it.

2. You wrote: "Then he claims the reason everyone is rude is 'a lack of education.'" That's a dishonest attempt to make it seem I think everyone on here is broadly ignorant. The "lack of education" to which I was referring -- as I think you know -- was specifically to a lack of education about this one habit of saying "Good game" to the victor as my original sentence made clear: "I ascribe this to a lack of education: No one has ever told them there's a better way."

Bottom line: What you've done is misrepresent my post in a troll-like fashion. Welcome to the internet, indeed.

Exactly you own words:

"ALWAYS -- the opponent I beat leaves abruptly without a word. By contrast, I routinely congratulate my opponents when they checkmate me, or when I resign, with a "Good game." ... Yet I usually will go WEEKS before I encounter a defeated opponent savvy enough to offer a "Good game" after losing. I ascribe this to a lack of education"

What YOU SAID is we are not educated enough to appreciate how well mannered you are.

@Timegod LOL. Good try: That's the second time you've chopped off the second half of that sentence to mislead the reader. Thankfully, I'm confident 95% of the people reading this understand my points and see that you're either genuinely misunderstanding them or choosing to misrepresent them. So, frankly, I feel no need get into a back-and-forth with you. Have a good night.

Derogatory comments are unacceptable, we don't need to discuss this.

But players who don't chat at all - that's a different matter.
There are just different ways to use a game server such as Lichess. Some players like the social experience, the fact that at the other end there are real human beings as well you can chat with. Others just want to play chess in silence and not be bothered with human interactions outside the game itself.

In my opinion, both ways of using this site are legitimate and polite.

By the way: many users here are minors. And the first thing you need to teach a kid before letting it use the internet is: don't chat with strangers. Lichess even has an option for "child-safe" mode, with chat disabled.

Honestly who cares about this stuff. Some say gg, some don't. Some people have zen mode on. Some don't speak English. Some just want to get on with the next game. Some (like me) jump straight into the analysis. I'm here to play chess, not stroke your ego. You should congratulate yourself if it's so important to you.

Me personally I'm just happy if my opponent doesn't run their clock deliberately in a losing position. Trying to impose your 'etiquette' on others is a waste of time. You could make this same post everyday for all eternity and nothing will change. Why not make your own group? You could call it the 'Good gamers' and you can congratulate each other all the time.

@Panagrellus I agree with you. There's nothing wrong with not chatting at all, if that's what a player prefers, and I guess I should revise my original post to state that as a preface.

As I think you understand, the point of my post is to let readers know there's some benefit, to them, of offering up a "Good game" after being defeated. When this subject came up previously a month or two ago, there were a number of users who commented, "I've never heard of doing this before." So I figure out of the dozens of users I encounter every month who simply vanish at the end of a game, many of them just don't know there's another approach that, I think, has some real benefit. Yes, finding the grace to offer up a "Good game" is more polite--I'd call that a side-benefit-- but chiefly it's a great way to recover some dignity, get one's head on straight, and learn from the game.

One responder in this thread has described the "Good Game" habit as meaningless. I'd disagree; and I'd bet you anything if you asked the persons who received the compliment from me if it was meaningless, most of them would say it wasn't. Many of them seem pleasantly surprised and it usually establishes a friendly tone immediately.

I've seen some users on this forum complain that no one seems to discuss games. If having the occasional post-game discussion seems worthwhile to you, I'd suggest that you greatly increase the likelihood of one occurring by taking the two seconds to click that GG button after your loss.

To summarize: I think the primary reason for adopting the "Good game" practice is, in some sense, a selfish one: It's a habit that encourages one's brain to move away from pettiness and resentment and toward magnanimity and an ability to learn from one's own mistakes.

@General-__-Advance

Your chess nihilism is noted, thank you. You are indeed right-- nothing matters. Who cares. But don't make people feel bad just for discussing it.

The world is burning, but we can at least talk about the pretty flames while it's happening.

If you want to chat, chat; if you just want to play, play. I'll thank or compliment my opponent at times, when I feel it's right to do so, but I'd hate to feel like I had to do that all the time, or that other people were only chatting back, because they felt it's the 'done thing' (rather than a genuine feeling that they wanted to say something).

I think apart from that, I pretty much agree with the OP. Thank you for posting.

I don't think nothing matters. I follow my own code of conduct. I resign when my position is lost & don't just burn my time to spite my opponent and I don't insult my opponent if they defeat me. People can (and do) discuss this all time on the forums. That's not what bothers me. What irks me is posts like this implying I have a 'basic lack of knowledge of sportsmanship and manners' when that's not true at all. Really these people should be asking themselves why they need this kind of validation in the first place. Perhaps instead of chastising others they could spend their time more productively.
@Qveen_Sacrifice

@GSP0113 : Why should I call a game "good" when it wasn't?
And usually the games I play are not good, no matter if I win or lose. Sometimes the opponent is just even worse.
And if I read the "GG" button I usually assume his intention is to mock me - like he wanted to say: "So you really think you have any reason to feel proud now about that win, just because I missed an opportunity?"