That's not how you set your rating range, and never was. All that does is determine what you see on the graph, and there is very little on the graph anymore either. Check this out:
http://www.chess.com/forum/view/livechess/new-logic-for-auto-pairing-and-seek-graph
and this:
https://support.chess.com/customer/portal/articles/1622811-how-are-seeks-matched-in-live-chess-
So how do you set your rating range? Ever notice that Custom is one of your choices in the drop down time menu? Next time you're over at the live server click on it and notice a little button that pops up labeled Rating Options. Click and enjoy. And yes of course you're right, this site is a nightmare to navigate unless you've learned the tricks.
I'm too tired to carry out a full investigation of it all tonight, I will tomorrow, but basically (in settings), you have min' rating and max' rating.
I've tried, for example, - 50 for min and +100 for max. I've also tried typing in an absolute value rating in full for plus or minus depending on where I'm at and it still doesn't work.
I'm being forced to play against nilly willys for like a 3-4 point win. I don't learn anything in these games! Chess.com have got me in a position where if I resign before I've even moved I lose points for doing so!
Game Time:
Seriously, what's going on with the rating system you can set in "settings" who you can play against here?
This is TWICE I've had to bring this up now and I'm getting a bit pissed off about it now.
I set it to minus 50 and plus 100, but it doesn't have any of it, it let's anybody appear!
Tonight I've been having points taken off me for resigning before I've even moved! If your bullshit system gave me the settings I want, I wouldn't have to resign in those circumstances!