I think this site should retitle beginner to recreational

When I first joined the site I picked intermediate.  Why?  Because I recreationally played the game since I was five.   I hadn't been a beginner in over 40 years.

So I feel there is a confusion.  Even for members of the site, having a 1000 rating and being labeled beginner seems somewhat unfair.

For the word beginner literally means you are beginning to play the game.

That's not a recreational player.

So I would hope either they switch out the term beginner or have another rating for recreational players.  

Perhaps 800?

Agreed. I don't like the term beginner. I've been plyaing for a long time but I'm not very good yet.

What about the 2000+ who are recreational and play just for fun, but happen to be quite good?

I am a beginner indeed! 

its the name of a class in chess and its just called 'beginner class' ie you are at a low class in your journey through the classes , you are literally 'beginning' your progress through the ranks...it doesn't necessarily mean a beginner chess player....I think you have it out of context

Again, it's about clarity.  Recreational player is more accurate.   As far as the 2000 recreational player?  Dude, if someone can get 2000 playing it recreationally they really need to think about taking the game seriously because they seriously have the potential to be a Grandmaster.

Not really. The distance between 2000 and GM-levels is enourmous, probably greater than between a beginner and 2000. Chess is not hard at low levels, and becomes harder and harder as you move up.

Also, if someone plays recreationally for decades, usually there are at least a couple of occasions when he or she decides to try to get better. And when you are under 1000, it is really easy to get better. Resisting this urge for decades is a bit weird to me. I mean no offense.

Chess players generally resist lots of urges I should imagine...

SInce you bring this topic up in the context of words and meanings, I'll "repost" something I put in a thread from this summer "When are you no longer a beginner?" which debated aspects of this: "In the interest of words themselves more than chess, a beginner is beginning at the beginning, the time just after not, and ending, in my opinion, soon after. So in that sense I am not a beginner as I've been playing for a few years. However, I have a low rating, don't like to think very hard, and just flail around. So, there should be another name for that ("just plain not very good"?), but not beginner. Though you could say that today I'm beginning to get a little worse, so maybe I'm a beginner after all."

All beginners are recreational, but not all recreational are beginners.

Technically i'm a recreational player. I don't play OTB, i've never read a chess book, i often play during my shifts when i'm on break. Most of my "studying" comes from watching youtube videos of random games, as i enjoy doing that. I play purely for the joy of playing. That's as "recreational" as you can get. But am i a beginner? 

It sounds like a few people are offended at the "beginner" word.

You make a good point. However, I don’t feel it really matters, at least not to me. Ratings and labels only serve to place me the same pool of players. But, recreational is probably the best description of my experience. I do want to improve but I’m not going to spend huge amounts of time and energy to make leaps of 100’s of points. I’m around 1100 right now and you can label me beginner or recreational as you wish. What others think of my chess abilities isn’t important. If your rating and label is important to you, then I say more power to you. 

Such umbrella words are bound not to fit everybody's situation. But I agree, 'beginner' needs to be changed, 800s don't play as such. Maybe 'improver' instead, it's more positive and might offer incentive to many. Better than 'flounderer', 'wallower' or 'stuck in the middle' anyway.

Is that really a problem that needs to be addressed? The term is used to make it easy for new account creators to pick an appropriate level. If you play for 40 years, but never make an effort to improve, then you'll stay at beginner level. There's no shame in that.

No, it's about people who should pick beginner level who pick Intermediate. I believe that a decent amount of these people drop like a rock from 1200.

didnt you read my post?

are you all blind?

I’m a beginner. I have no shame in that. 

no well actually ur a high-intermediate lol

Yes, there are GMs who are recreational players...

Oh I so wish that were true, the more I play, it seems the worse I get.