The ratings on LiChess seem screwy

There is no reason to criticize their ratings as inaccurate. Ratings are not absolute measures, like the temperature that water boils at.  They are always only accurate relative to the group of players being compared.  Blitz ratings here can't be easily compared to blitz ratings on other sites and so on.

The  main reason would appear to be the differing starting points for new players. I have heard that lichess starts everyone off at 1500 while here, people can self-rate and start anywhere from 400 to 2000.

At any rate, ratings mainly exist to help you find good matches. If they do that as well as possible, they are working.

 

Lel but the percentile is smaller than on chess.com for me lichess percentiles tougher

I’m a 1600 blitz lichess, 1210 chess.com, but I have been using lichess to practice lately and only use chess.com when I mean business. I consider my chess.com rating as the gold standard. I find their percentiles screwy on lichess. At 1600, I’m “better than 57% of players.” At 1200 on cc, I’m in the 85th percentile. I think there are less players on lichess, and most people on there are more hardcore chess players than chess.com as chess.com is the most obvious website to start playing chess.

I’ve beaten an 1836 in blitz on lichess and they told me they were 1550 rapid on chess.com. But sometimes I play 1400s on there that feel like a level 30 chess engine so go figure.