I guess anyone can be fooled. Any idiot can pull photos off a website. Be careful who you chat to - seems the person behind the profile could be anyone... I would suggest, if the photos look too professional or somehow "incongrous", don't chat, don't post - just ignore. Hopefully they'll go away eventually  ☺

What is wrong with chatting? Chatting is fun :)!

Even if the person is not who he/she claims to be, does it really matter if you only chess and talk a bit? Just don't tell exactly where you life, don't give private information and do not meet random strangers all alone.

The only problem I have with fake profiles are the people with double profiles with different ratings and etc.

Yes, I agree - chatting's fun, but it's a shame when some profiles are clearly manufactured. I think it's only worth chatting to people who are definitely 'real' otherwise everyone ends up looking foolish. But you make some very good observations. Definitely don't give your number or any other personal information to anyone unless you've verified they are who they say they are. Perhaps webcam chat functionality would help in this respect?

you make it sound so simple. ever considered a career as a life guru?

I truly am a stream! Please talk to me?

you're babbling.

There is nothing wrong with chit chat in my opinion. I'm actually very curious about people, how old are they, what do they study/work, how long do they already play chess etc.

However I don't think that someone should be obligated to talk back, if someone doesn't want to talk then he has the rigth to just play chess :). So it does not annoy me if my opponents does not talk back and in that case I simply stop talking.

It should be noted though that I only talk in Turn-Based games, in live games I like to focus solely on the game.