Ideas for new thread topics

 Why is Afaf's FIRST comment in most threads useless?

A bit harsh. She is understandably impatient to see these suggestions take wing.

 Oh, That was supposed to be a new forum topic. You answered it too soon.

Mine too. 

give it a bit more time and costelus will turn the whole topic around to his obsession with the cheats wah heyy!!

    As the possibility of rule changes has been mentioned, here is an old idea of mine with slightly changed wording:-

    The pawn, on its first move only, could be allowed to reverse vertically or diagonally into a square on the base line vacated by a piece . This could improve defensive capabilities and also allow the development of  interesting new tactics.

8. Who would be the worst choice (without being nasty) to head up chess.com - if it wasn't Erik?

9. Which former member do you remember most fondly?

10. Which topic should never be mentioned?

11. Ignoring the rank numbers in algebraic notation: construct a sentence in English from the move history of a game, starting from the first move. e.g. "Dad had a bad head." (1.d4 a7, 2.d5 h7, ...) 

12. Which Russian-sounding name sounds the most impressive for a World Chess Champion? (See chessov-nevalostagameski).

@artfizz

1. Member 1,000,000

2. DELETED

3. Isn't it rude to ask someone to resign?

4. Hah!

5. Xenia Onatopp

Strange ideas. Some of these would lead to very weird discussions.

13. What was the middle move of your middle game?
14. Assume that you are having a romantic, candle-lit dinner (for two) - but that you're also playing chess (using voice to text) by speaking into your mobile phone: devise a code (including names for all the pieces) such that your date will not suspect you are playing chess.
15. If all of FIDE's Laws of Chess were inverted (e.g. castle only if there ARE one or more pieces between your king and rook), then [a] what would constitute cheating? [b] would it still be cheating?
16. Which two or three members of chess.com would make the most bizarre gestalt entity (and why)?
17. Did Fischer prefer being called Bob, Bobby, Robert, Rob or Robbo - when he was very young?

1. Why aren't the opponent's pieces and pawns inverted in a 2d chess board.

Funny, I had a similar topic that has been brewing.  Why are there so many insecure socially inept lonely jerks who play chess?  Is it disproportionate to the normal population?  Discuss.

That would be along similar lines to:

 why-so-many-chessplayer-men-have-bad-jobs

i-am-so-lonelyi-need-love

good-looking-chess-boys

18. If you could go back and start playing chess at a younger age, which childhood activity/experience would you be prepared to sacrifice for it?
19. What is the single greatest weakness in your game?
20. Do you notice any differences when playing someone of the opposite gender - as opposed to playing someone of the same gender?
21. Are there any absolutes (in chess) that you would never challenge?
22. Does playing chess build character - or compensate for lack of it?

23. Should forum discussions be less forceful where OP is new to the site, to avoid potentially driving him/her away?

This sequence of moves would spell "fegqh". You seem to have interpolated a few extra letters.

I wrote only the beginning of the sequence of moves corresponding to "Dad had a bad head". I intended it to be interpreted thus: "Dad h ... ad a bad head" - rather than one letter for each word.

But, of course, we are only discussing potential future threads - not starting the actual threads at this point - and your interpretation has equal merit.

Incidentally, I really see this item (Artfizz's candidate #11) and the code to allow you to play chess on the sly while on a date (Artfizz's candidate #14) as the same discussion.

"Dad had a bad head" is not only ambiguous (omitting the rank numbers) - it suffers from the more serious problem that it refers to a sequence of moves. Ideally, each exchange (one or more sentences) would refer to a single move.

Hahaha, good one!  Or, why are there so many arrogant, elitist weirdos who like to tell others what to do on chess.com?