Player names

One thing I can't stand is people with user names which are designed to intimidate - you know the ones I mean, anything with King or Genius etc that seeks to establish superiority before a pawn is played. One bright spark on here calls himself IJUSTWON (in caps) and has a pic of a little kid as his image, and he is (or claims to be) some level of master.

To me this is pure gamesmanship and goes against the spirit of this site, which is, or should be, about friendly engagement. It's either about trying to get an edge on your opponent, or phenomenal arrogance, both of which are in my opinion totally uncool.

Just to clarify, this does not apply to people with witty or tongue in cheek names, I'm not totally humourless (at least, not last time I looked).

Anyone else irritated by these guys, or am I just over-reacting?

You're an absolute drama queen.

Thank you for your relevant, helpful and nice comment...

Seriously though, you need to man up.

Next we're going to see a whinging thread about people responding honestly to the OP instead of kissing ass.

Hey Scott, "man up" is such a jerk phrase, as is "drama queen" - says a lot about you, whether you realise it or not. Chess is a game, my friend. It might be ritualised warfare, but the protagonists should be respectful  to each other in my opinion.

Jerk is more of a jerk phrase than either man up or drama queen. Seriously dude, learn how to deal.

I'll take being a jerk over getting upset because someone has 'king' in their chess.com username.

You might be over-reacting a little. I can understand where you're coming from, but you can't let little things like that get to you too much; there are far worse things in the world, and it's a good ability to have to let some stuff slide. If you let silly usernames get to you then how can you possibly deal with all the real injustices in the world, you know?

Bayer are pissed at an Indian medical company for offering cancer medications at 1/3 the price Bayer are selling them for; all around the world people are being imprisoned for cannabis possession while drunkards cause mayhem (last week in Dublin a drunk woman bit part of another woman's nose off at a bus stop); the world is rife with animal cruelty and violations of human rights; people are jerks in many, many ways, and while it's not excusable, from a personal point of view it's healthy to be able to say "well, your username may imply that you're a twat, but I don't know you and I'm not going to worry myself with what kind of a person you may or may not be."

I hope that helps! :)

If chess is stylized warfare, then using names to bolster your fearsomeness is perfectly legitimate. No one ever named a military division "the fighting babies".

I don't mind names that engender a sense of bravado. If you let a name affect your frame of mind, what will happen when your opponent sacs a pawn for initiative in the middle game?

Wow, thank you for bringing that to my attention; I'm almost sorry I treated FiveLeavesLeft with respect now. That's really uncalled for, and is actually far, far worse than what he's complaining about.

How old are you FiveLeaves? I sincerely hope it's a low number, because you're acting like a child now.

So is "arrogant idiot", per your comment on IJUSTWON's profile.  Makes one question whether you even understand what the word "respectful" means.

Hypocrite.

Do you know what really bothers me in player's names? It is when they spell a number instead of just putting it in. I mean really how big does it make you feel? You go around feeling so superior because you can spell numbers. At least people with "intimidating" names are sort of on topic, the game is about winning and losing, but your name is completely uncalled for. Get off your high horse and just use that row above those letters you hold so dear.

To me, intimidating avatars are even worse. Especially of aggressive animals, such as dogs or parrots.

Now hand over the peanuts!

Well, the rule is that numbers ten or less should be spelled, and numbers above ten, like 11, should be indicated using the numeric characters.

I actually prefer usernames with spelled numbers becuase what I find really intimidating are high numbers.  11-25 aren't so bad (although mildly arrogant), but anything beyond that is the height of arrogance.  Imagine having to face an opponent who's username contians 55, or 121 or 888?

What jerks.

Should you spell out irrational numbers like three square roots of two?

I hope nobody's frightened by my lava world.