Losing a Welcome game?

I am losing/have lost a Welcome game.

Is this a record?

I think it means you get replaced and your account gets deleted.

Phew. I was thinking tarring and feathering at least or maybe the good old hanged, drawn and quartered.

No shame in losing a welcoming game. Out of the almost 500 I've played I'm sure I've lost 4 or 5.  But over 90 % of welcoming games never get past the first few moves then the new member is never heard from again. the other 10 % stay around for a few gmes then most of them leave.  when you read on chess.com's homepage that they have over 5 million members, don't believe it. 90%of the those people come to the site sign in and make a move then are never heard from again. so that means 4,500,000 "members". sign up then leave. Of those  500,000 who stay for a game or two 90% of those are gone after a few months or so. so that leaves 50,000 members that chess.com actually has. It's all just a promotional gimmick. I know i repeated this some time back but thought this need repeating here. Nothing against chess.com since all sites do this Plus these are just rough estimates from my time being a greeter and how many newbie came and left.

I have not been playing welcome games very long but my experience largely matches yours.

The chap I lost to is still playing though, so maybe we should try dropping a queen in the two or three moves the newcomer plays as an encouragement to see the game through and maybe stay on after that.

If this technique gets the site a genuine 5 million members I figure I will deserve a medal!

what are the welcome games?

You can sign up (under "account" then "online settings") to greet new visitors to the site by playing an unrated game against them. I think you are also asked to explain any aspects of the site which the newcomer wants to know about (although my experience so far is that you don't get such questions).

I clicked that box long ago (to play welcome games,)  but have never seen anything come from it. Would that just come up like other games/ challenges? 

Yes, they show up on your home page.  I tend to get one or two most days so I am not sure why they are not coming your way.  As scut says most just last two or three moves and even the games which continue tend to be at beginner level so you are not missing a whole lot.

I do get a small collateral benefit from it in that I would like to reach 100 games so as to be eligible for some group matches which make it a condition to have played that number of games.  The short welcome games seem to count towards that target.

In the beginning anyone who signed up got a welcome game. So there were hundreds to go around.  With the new format from a year or so ago chess.com has changed it so when a newbie signs on they can click a box if they want a welcome game.  Few newbies must click the box because I went back to being a greeter for a few months and never received a game.

Also with the default tab being "moves" instead of "chat" this also helps to discourage chatting during a game lowering the hospitality level IMHO

I've lost 2.  Sometimes a very good player joins that site.  One that I lost is from a player who (I believe) had an OTB rating of over 2000 years ago.  

There is an intimidation factor here that I can attest to.  I haven't played chess in probably 25 years but very recently decided I just might want to try it again.  Chess.com seemed like a no-brainer for all the resources available.  But no way I'm going to sign up for a "welcome game" unrated or otherwise at this stage.  I would guess those three or four move folks suddenly realized how clueless they are and disappeared out of embarrassment.  No shame there, I can relate.

After reading the forums for awhile, and books, and starting to work on the TTrainer, I remember how much work it takes to play passable chess, to say nothing about actually getting any good at it.  Gotta love it.  I imagine that for most of those who sign up but disappear after a few weeks it wasn't love afterall, just a hotflash.  Or gas, if they're old, like some of us.

Your right Horace, I don't know about the rest of you but I surf the net alot and find sites that sound interesting , spend a short while there, maybe sign up  then never return.  Same thing with all these people that come to chess.com. It's interesting for a short while then on to something else unless you really find chess fun like we do.