Penalty for letting clock run

I would like to make the suggestion that whatever the current penalty is for letting your clock run, the penalty is not sufficient. I am constantly running into players who let their clock run in lost positions and also tired of people who start a game but won't even make the first move. Please consider making the penalty for these infractions much more severe. Thanks!

@Iplaypoorly starting a game and not making the first move wastes only 30 seconds of your time - making harsher penalties for that would penalise people with a poor connection. I do agree about letting the clock run in losing positions though; there isn't a good excuse for this and it is extremely annoying.

@soni777 how about players who click the abort button when both players are connected and active (green light), before making their first move?

@laatikko there can be a legitimate reason to abort the game - something unexpected that just came up. This has happened to me and I needed to abort the game.

Oletko sinäkin myös Suomalainen? :)

i lost many games because i play while i work, is very common,

Another vote for more severe penalties for letting time run out in losing postions. 3 strikes -> ban? Also, does anyone even know what the penalty is right now? Whatever it is, there are still lots of people doing this. It wouldn't be a problem except for the 10% of people who make a move at the last second to try to get you when you change windows or start a 2nd game.

My feeling is that if you accept a challenge and then don't play the game by not making a single move, that is a defacto resignation.
This is not really about wasted time and that player should at the bare minimum lose whatever points he would had he played and lost. But the most annoying thing is letting the time run in losing positions. This is a rampant problem so the penalty is not severe enough. Could we please be advised what the penalty is? Aslo it would be most satisfying if Lichess could report to us when a player has been banned. For instance if 10 infractions equals a ban then on the 10th game, the player who is not getting the penalty, should be informed that the other player has rec'd a temporary ban.

@soni777 in principle I think that if something unexpected comes up, it's not the opponent's problem. If you had agreed a rated otb game and something came up, it better be something real for anyone to accept the failure to fulfill your promise. Ofc it's no big deal in online game, but the principle is the same: if you're not sure you will play, don't seek a game (don't troll).

But what I had in mind are players who abort the game because of Idk what, opponent's rating? Never played together before, abort the game, immediately start a new seek. (And sometimes end up paired against the same opponent, abort again...)

Ps Kyllä :)

I wouldn't mind seeing lichess do polling on this topic (seeing what consequences people want for bad behavior), to see where users want modifications made and how important they see these changes as being.

I realize that the lichess admins are very smart and dedicated people, but if polling were to suggest workable changes supported by a significant % of the playerbase, then I suspect these changes would probably be things that would improve the site overall.

This would also cut down on complaints and pressure on the admins (I think) as they would have the data to back up their implementations of punishments instead of having to guess based on occasional complaints and psychological theories (note here the "replication crisis" in psychology, plus competing theories in general).

I think polling is a great idea. In the meantime, we could do an unofficial poll here. I think anyone who lets their clock run 10 times within a one week period, automatically gets a 24 hour ban on their first offense. For each and every subsequent offense (of 10 times in one week) the penalty doubles, so 48 hours, 96 hours and so on. The definition of letting your time run should be based upon a % of the time control. So for instance in a 3 minute game we don't want to penalize a player who is genuinely thinking, so you cannot set the decision criteria too low. Perhaps a value of 10% of the time control could serve as the minimum level at which it is assumed your opponent is letting his time run intentionally. So in a 3 minute game if there are 18 seconds or more on your opponent's clock and he does not make any moves during those 18 seconds, then Lichess assumes you have let your clock run intentionally if you fail to make a move. Anything above 18 seconds would be judged as intentional clock running if no move is made. Any feedback on that?