What does chess etiquette have to say about promoting pawns when I'm already ahead in material?  Say a bishop and two pawns..  It seems safest and fastest for me (at my skill level..  about 1400 turn-based online)  to win by doing that, but it seems like piling on.  Would doing so irritate people?    Is it insulting to keep your advanced pawns two ranks back deliberately?  What am I missing here?  Thanks guys!

Nope, of course you do it. If for some strange reason they are insulted by it, it is totally their problem, and should simply resign.

I don't get why you would feel that's rude. You have the right to do play anything you want just like your opponent has the right to play on. I consider it more rude that your opponent does not resign in such a position. Anyways whenever put into that position I would try to get two bishops and practice that mate (it helps to have a back-up pawn somewhere just in case). 

I wouldn't promote multiple pawns, that is certainly piling on... but promoting one pawn is not rude IMHO.

Jason

Promote.

Un-necessary promotion should be considered rude.

So pushing your a2 and b2 paws up the board to promote when you've already got queen, rook and minor piece buzzing around a lone king? Not very nice

Promoting a pawn that's already on the 6th or 7th to end things quickly? Sure, why not

You should do whatever gets to mate the quickest.

Its up to your opponent to stop you - you do not need to stop yourself!

Sometimes queening is just faster.

 Well there isn't exactly a general consensus on when a person should resign is there? While you might say they're being rude, they could argue that beginners are instructed to always play to the finish. And then there was also a post from a person recently who always believed it was rude to resign (quit) a lost position.

Does an action become less rude just because you percieve the person to have been rude to you? It takes a real asshole to humiliate an opponent by promoting multiple queens because they feel they were wronged by a person using their alloted time . Just checkmate the guy and move on

And playing on in a hopeless position solely to flag a player is rude in my book

I'm all about taunting.... but in terms rudeness, i would say 2 queens is enough to get a mate easily, more than that just leaves you with a greater chance of stalemate.

But hey, if you want 8 queen.... BE MY GUEST...and nvr forget to taunt

I think it is not rude if it is already close to promotion, but if you push it all the way across the board you probbly could have mated by the time you promoted the pawn.

This is a war. Promote as much as possible. Do what you must to secure your victory.

My situation is turn-based 3=day pay online.

Correction for typo... "turn-based 3 day online"

My thoughts EXACTLY. In fact, I go out of my way to promote every pawn if my opponent refuses to resign in such a dead-lost position. It teaches them a valuable lesson and reverses the insult.  Most will figure out after a while that they are only insulting themselves in such positions.