Is Ben Finegold as big a jerk as he seems in his videos?

And fanboys gonna fawn.

He is far worse in person, than he is in his videos.

I would know.

but hes a vegetarian.

I watched a stream of his but had to turn it off 

hundreds of GMs making vids, streaming etc.   no need to put up with this guy 

I think different people have different taste. Most of his jokes are funny. I always lose concentration and get sleepy on other chess videos. 

Snowflakes, Snowflakes, little Snowflakes,

Getting offended, without the references...

Has the whole world gone crazy? Am I the only one around here that gives a shit about the jokes??? *click*

Play f6, play f6, you think I'm fucking around here, play f6

I have met him in person. Ben Finegold is jsut about the sweetest. He got me excited about chess whn I was jsut a 9 year old girl. I am sure he does not remember me, but he is just a GREAT guy!

https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-top-3-chess-insults

 Simon Williams on Ben Finegold:

"The only thing he would be a favorite in is an eating competition. He might even eat me!"

Don't mix your ordinals with your cardinals. Year 0 is the first year. Year 1 is the second year.

I really didn't like Ben when I first saw his videos, and I happen to remember that the first video of his I watched was this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6tdY0Hz2Jw

He's a bit meaner in that one than he normally is, and it put a bad taste in my mouth for him. Eventually, people convinced me to give him another try, and his reoccurring jokes started to grow on me, and I still haven't found an instance where he's as mean as the first video of his I watched.

He must have been eating trees, then.

This simply isn't true.

He is a total jackarse and another “vegan” that has to remind you of it every six minutes. 

Well, I pulled out some of my old check stubs to verify this.    

I paid for my membership to the Wildcat BBS version of what became Chess.com on July 17th, The Year Zero.
-

(there was no 'Year Zero'.   You can make an argument that you can't say "Annual" until the 2nd event.  There cannot be a First Annual.  There can only be a First and a hopeful expectation of a second.  But the first year is the Year 1.)  

Loud, overweight, obnoxious, arrogant, and politically correct. He is known to block anyone online who points out simple mistakes he makes. When he makes a poor argument, he gets triggered and blocks people. He's just a coward who is randomly offensive to a lot of people (with jokes that don't increase his popularity or interest at all and can only harm him), then offended very easily himself. Guys like this are overall just really bad for chess.

Frankly Ridiculous, you obviously haven't spent the time to watch his videos or streams. He has an offbeat sense of humor for sure, but a really great person and GM. 

I think that Ben is funny, and his videos are very informative and well done.  He's one of the best instructors I have seen.

Oh my god will you just think of the children!! The disappointed teacher act is just that, an act! An overtly obvious act that everybody is in on except the most nambypamby wet folk who insist on 'respect'. The teacher is the one who needs respect, that way the student will be the one wanting to earn THEIR respect. He makes out being stupid at chess is inevitable as a beginner, and that improvement is a choice not a blessing. That's not insulting or calling people stupid is it, it's saying you're not stupid you just don't know much, and if you don't put the work in and remember to apply what you learn here, you won't succeed, simple.
The guy is hilarious, frankly, he has great recall and a way of teaching that works for me. My chess has improved rapidly in the last month or so of watching his videos.

Is it really an act?

Or does he just act like its an act?