Is it worth being a greeter?

I checked the box in my profile to act as a greeter.

I thought I was doing a good thing, helping out the site and newcomers.

Not one of my greeter games has gone past 10 moves and now I have had abusive language.

Has anybody else acted as a greeter and had these experiences or has anybody had any good experiences of being a greeter.

I like being a greeter. You do have to deal with people that won't play the games but sometimes you can help people, make friends, and practice chess. I enjoy being a greeter.

That's really a shame...  I thought about being a greeter but I might be too opinionated to play with people who don't know me.  I guess I think I might say something offensive to someone.  Sorry to hear that your experience has been so poor. 

One thing you might consider is to only chat with those who chat first.  And just stop talking and playing abusive individuals all together.  I mean the games are unrated right?

Yes it is a shame, a case of 1 spoiling it for the many.

I shall be continuing as a greeter and I urge you to give it a try.

I though I would post on this forum to gauge other peoples experience and let people know what to expect.

I find that it is still worth it to be a greeter. Even if the game is never played to the end, you will have made a positive impact on someone.

If it's someone who is abusive, it gives you a little more incentive to crush them in the game.

I always start with "hi, and welcome to chess.com".  If they don't want to respond, fine.  Some good and some bad experiences.  Some slightly abusive language - like "GO!!!"  "MOVE!" as if screaming in CAPS will get me to do anything :)

Used to do the max on new games until I developed multiple personalities LOL.

Down to only 5 games per day now.  Almost anyone who I play here is better than me, and if they aren't, well, I learned something from them and they also learned from me.

I don't see how silence applies in turn-based games online (sans live chess) as the opponent could be sitting at home listening to System of a Down or somesuch "distraction".    And for my next new thread...silence...:)

I think is fun when people play. you meet new potentional good opponet's, have friendly chats and all. I mean yes most of the games are never finished because no one moves within the first few moves and people can be jerks but the other side is worth it.

Maybe an option could be to ask all the new players if they wish to play a greeting game. That would help cut back on the number of timeouts and frustrated greeters.

i take on 5 greeting games at a time.  the games usually last about 3 days before timeout.

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/fun-with-chess/no-point-to-be-the-greeter

andycap wrote:

Not one of my greeter games has gone past 10 moves and now I have had abusive language.

 I couldn't agree more. Only 3 out of 15 have logged on again. I have a game currenty going against someone who is polite and is giving me a tough game.

The point is that actually a lot of people just come here, try a few moves and then never come back.

We all know that this is not because of the quality of this site since I think we all agree it is the best.

The greeter games include a very appropriate note insite the chat window to explain what correspondance chess is and still we keep having those people saying "GO!" or "MOVE!" or "Why the hell are you taking so much time to think?".

But this is exactly why those greeter games are here for, for us to say to those newbies "Welcome, we are playing correspondance chess, the pace is very slow since your opponent might even not be connected and behind is computer, therefore you may think of every move for a long time. This website also as 'Live chess' feature where you play a game in a limited amount of time like 5-10 minutes." or something similar.

Of course a lot of newbies just create an account, play 4-5 games or less and then go forever, but if rather than keeping 10% of them we can keep 25%, our community grows, Erik prospers and we all win from that since we have more good players to play with.

I myself am a greeter, I limit this activity to 4 games at once, but I think it is worth doing it and it is the less we ow to this website since we like it so much.

Cheers

Alex

AWARDCHESS wrote:

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/fun-with-chess/no-point-to-be-the-greeter

 This is a very silly thread and hardly helpful. If you want points for your games then don't be a greeter.

I would appreciate feedback from people who have had experience as a greeter as to how they engaged their opponent to ensure they stayed an active member.

I usually start by sending a welcome message in the chat window to suppliment the standard one sent by the site.

The issue of abuse is a seperate matter which I dealt with using the proper link.

Thank you to those who have contributed to this thread, your experiences seem to demonstrate a common theme; Log on, get bored, Leave.

Maybe I'm just lucky but I keep getting good experiance's as a Greeter.  Iv'e made friends with quite a lot of the people who iv'e greeted and to those who stop playing after a few moves I just ignore.

Shame about someone swearing at you though.

There were some useful tips here http://www.chess.com/forum/view/community/greeter-games2 and here http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/greeting2

Is there any objective way of counting how many of the people one greets go on to become active members?

Hi. I play greeter games too. I usually play around 5 at a time, depending on tournys or my # of games. I usually finish play in 1 out of 5. I thought some of the same things you said. BUT I've been doing it a few months now, and I feel different. If they dont finish games, or get bored or whatever, then they probably wont like the site. Out of every 20 games or so, I play against someone who gets it. No biggie. Just keep being a good greeter, and practice openings. :)