Funny how that works, eh? Sometimes I sit down to write something and then I end up convicting myself, ha ha.
I guess it just goes to show that there are limits on developing actual relationships with people who exist in your own world only in the virtual realm.
Thanks,
KoA
I actually had 300 smth friends but I decided to purge my friends list
About 15-20 of the names on my friends list I know IRL, but the rest of them (excluding a couple CHT/CYCT people I just pushed the friend button. Sometimes it’s because we share an interest, sometimes it’s because we had exciting chess games, sometimes it’s because they sent me a friend request and I just push the accept button for no reason LOL
Every single person on my friends list I know super well. I’m just a social butterfly 
Back when I was young and naïve I accepted all friend requests
Now, I decline them
I actually had 300 smth friends but I decided to purge my friends list
weird purge thing here
i have a local guy on my list that i've been friends in real life with for a long time & a couple of people from our otb club, but the rest are from me trying to reach 100 for the achievement unlock lol... maybe i'll be more sociable in the future but right now i'm just working on my game. 🙂
@technical_knockout : *sends me friend request*
Me : accepts
also me : I have no idea who you are
i sent you one b/c you said you usually just accept them lol... thanks for getting me one friend closer to the achievement unlock. 🙂
EamonB1 did you really think your friends list is a public list of people who are people you know, liked, and vetted? Like some sort of a social resume?
No. If you thought yes, as your post seems to imply, you missed the point of the friends list here. The point is that it's more fun to play actual humans being more than once, as you get to know them a little. Consider if otherwise, why would you want chess.com? Why not just play a computer all day long? Did you know the "AI Turing test for chess" problem has been solved? In other words, computers can emulate human chess players, duplicating their styles, opening favorites, etc. So, if you want to play humans and not communicate or interact, you may as well use a computer instead of playing random people here.
No, the advantage of this site is not the computer bots. It's to be able interact with other humans. The friends list is a list of people you started to interact with. Ideally, you could challenge them to another game. Then you could chat and compare to prior games, other strategies, etc. That's assuming most of your games are not rated. (Talking or other human-human interactions during a rated game isn't too nice.)
Most of all, if playing with a friend, you can select a balanced game in which the computer takes away a few pieces from the better player. So this way you can play MC and win!
In real life, the idea I confess the friends system is a little broken. For example, my friend requests rarely seem to go through. And, if I had a good game with someone, the capability to submit a challenge is broken.
It should be fixed. To know more about the problem, let me explain it.
If you want to play a balanced game with a friend, they generally can't get the challenge invitation when not on the site. And when on the site, they are playing. They also cannot get the invite. So, to summarize, regardless if they are on the site or not, they cannot get the challenge.
You might think, no problem, I can send a challenge via direct message. Right? Nope. They have an anti-spam system that (according to an email I got from tech support who tried to explain why my account was muted), challenge links are considered spam by the internal spam detection bot.
Yeah.
So the biggest potential benefit of the friends list is destroyed.
Even so the friends list isn't supposed to be a list of people you consider your in-person friends. Statistically speaking your idea is totally insane because chess.com is global, so the odds of you interact with locals you know from your nearest 50-mi² (square miles) is about 500 friends*50/(196.9 million)=~zero unless you were already friends from a site like facebook and you invited them.
there’s only one person from my list who I know in real life, and two others who I didn’t know before but chat with now on chess.com
Good question, of my 146 friends, I only know about 25 from OTB games and chess tournaments.
I used to friend anyone who offered and then neglect to ever talk to them. So they often cycle out. Someone is there now, and we've never spoken. It's a terrible position to put this dude in, but chats and DMs with strangers are not my bag.
Simple enough question. I see some people on chess.com with 200+ friends. That can't be right, or, at least, it can't be realistically accurate. Are you really their friends? Do you actually take the time to get to know them? I will be the first to admit that I don't know some of the people on my list at all, but others, I know very closely, like @Lorian_Starr or @hvenki. And yet, some people on this platform have nearly ten times the number of friends on here that they probably do in reality. Again, are you actually friends with them, or did you just click "accept" to make yourself look popular?
This was supposed to be a combination of a rant and a survey, but honestly I feel like I did a lot more hypocritical ranting than anything. 😐
Mmmmm, maybe 40-50 of them i've known them and i've actually talked to them
tbh i just accept fr as they come i just dont go use my time trying to friend someone.
i mean it depends what do you mean by a friend...
i try to don't have people in friendlist about who i know nothing.. but you know.. even if you chat with somebody for some time it doesnt automatically mean that its your friend...
So i would say that i have something like five real friends here... about twenty people with who i do enjoy to chat time to time and the rest of my friendlist are some people who i have there for nostalgic reasons, alts of somebody and so..
Simple enough question. I see some people on chess.com with 200+ friends. That can't be right, or, at least, it can't be realistically accurate. Are you really their friends? Do you actually take the time to get to know them? I will be the first to admit that I don't know some of the people on my list at all, but others, I know very closely, like @Lorian_Starr or @hvenki. And yet, some people on this platform have nearly ten times the number of friends on here that they probably do in reality. Again, are you actually friends with them, or did you just click "accept" to make yourself look popular?
This was supposed to be a combination of a rant and a survey, but honestly I feel like I did a lot more hypocritical ranting than anything. 😐