Take Backs

I made an obvious error when dragging my peice on my laptop and so offered my brother a draw and he accepted.  can't fault a bit of fair play

Keyword there is "brother" I would do the same for my brother, if I had one. Also my grandma, grandpa, sis, aunt, nephew, niece etc I won't, however, give tackbacks to random strangers!

Perhaps the real keyword there is 'draw'...
Offering/accepting a draw in response to an obvious, out-of-character oversight or 'fumble' (due to-say-a selfish pedestrian on a zebra-crossing), and then starting the game over, presents a perfect opportunity to be a brother/mate/selfless goodbloke, and at little cost to oneself.
Depending, of course, on just how much of one's self is a pathologically competitive, rotten bastard.

funny enough this is more or less what happened to me. I dragged my queen and dropped it a square short!

Having missed castling (accidently moving my king 1 square instead of 2 due to mouse malfuctions) twice in the last couple of days, I would like to see the option of a takeback request.

At the very least the opponent can still decline the request (at which time I can add him to my ignore list if the request was legitimate, which should improve future games), but having the option to make a request that the opponent can deny if he wants to seems more legitimate than not having the option to make the request at all IMO.

Yea idk if they deserve a take back whenever they want because they might lie about it and say it was a miss click or something but they actually made a bad move.

You can add me to your ignore list right now because I think there is no such thing as "legitimate" take back request - you are the only one responsible for your moves, your mouse and your computer.

The only exception I can think of is unrated training game (for example  when teaching kids).

How could someone possibly be responsible for a mouse malfunction?

How about the guy who designed the mouse? Couldn't we blame him?

If your mouse malfunctions once - ok, bad luck, "shit happens". If it malfunctions regularly and you don't replace it - it's entirely your fault.

Good point, off with his head!

For anyone wondering how to block users, see http://www.chess.com/home/privacy.

I recommend it, virtually all of us could use less toxic people in our lives.

So you call people "toxic" because they insist on sticking to chess rules???

There is no "chess rule" that states that technical error shall reign supreme over common sense and decency (allowing a takeback for obvious or probable technical error), indeed most chess sites allow takeback requests in live games as I understand it.

To the larger question, if someone lacks the basic empathy to allow a takback due to a technical error that does not adversely harm the first person in any significant manner (the case in the vast majority of online ("live" in chess.com terminology) chess games, I would lean towards thinking such a person is toxic, or at the very least unpleasant. Insofar as any given person is dealing with personal difficulties in their life as is, the effect could very well be multiplied far beyond where it would normally be (note instances of peole "snapping" at relatively minor annoyances IRL for an example of this).

By playing with a person (or spending time with such a person IRL) a person would by definition not be spending time with more decent/integrous people - some of which might become friends or valued associates/resources - which would be a net loss overall when the two possibilites are compared. If everyone held people to basic guidelines of ethics/integrity the world would be a much better place, which makes that a good guideline IMO.

There is a rule that once a legal move is completed it can't be undone. That pretty much covers all the cases yours included.

There is no technical error that can't be taken care of on your side:

• if your mouse malfunctions - replace it
• if you are clumsy - slow down
• if you've messed up anyway - resign

This is the most decent way to deal with "mouseslip" problem instead of burdening your opponent with it.

Takebacks reduce chess game to a joke, please let's not go down that path.

I liken the issue of takeback requests due to clear technical error to a real-life game where one person had a hand tremor or accidentally bumped a piece with his hand while turning to talk to someone behind him, or perhaps when he is was clearly adjusting a piece that there is no reason whatsoever to think that he would be be considering moving, or perhaps accidentally tipped over his king (usually a sign of resignation) when he clearly did not mean to resign.

If two people were playing a friendly game and a person like the one above lost the game because the other person was ultra-strict about touch rules, both the losing player and other reasonable people seeing or hearing about the game later would very likely think the hard-core stickler for the rules was being irrational and rude, and would similarly consider ensuing arguments from said person that "there is no such thing as a 'legitimate' take back request" to be quite illogical and uncouth indeed.

Barring some extreme circumstances that I would have difficulty imagining IRL, saying that such a takeback in such circumstances would "reduce the chess game to a joke" (especially if the losing player had invested any significant amount of time into the game) would similarly be seen as extremely rigid and illogical by most reasonable people.

I would think that not being fair and understanding about the circumstances in a case like the hypothetical one above would clearly reduce the stature of chess players in most people eyes as well as anyone falling victim to the extreme interpretation of the rules while playing that player at some later date. Perhaps toxic would be too harsh a term for many, but certainly such a person is not someone who most people would want to be around IRL, I know I sure wouldn't.

Just because someone can't or won't be widely held to account for uncouth actions while they are online is no reason why common sense and decency should not be expected, actions do not somehow become effect-less simply because they are not done face-to-face with others around to hold people to account...

With that said, I think I've made my case here and will not be following this thread further. I hope chess.com will consider adding a takeback request button to the live chess feature in the future, as it would compensate for technical errors (often unforeseeable, computers/computer mice/the internet are far from errorless devices) that might otherwise ruin otherwise well-fought games.

Everybody is different, and I can see the sense in Tao999's comments, though I also agree uri65. However, one thing I heard from a friend of mine who is an IM is that during a GM game one player slipped and touched a piece. His opponent let it pass but later on in the game the guy who accidently touched his piece was winning. Instead of taking the victory, he offered the other guy a draw, even though a win would have pushed him up in his chess career. Nice story!

I can only admire with your brave stand on ethics, Tao 999.
What ethical decision was needed to represent yourself with a religous symbol ?

By the by: 'Rules' -by definition- are only concerned with tecnical errors. All errors being 'technical'.
(Two can play at pedantry) 

In an unrated game against someone much lower rated, takebacks should be okay. Otherwise they just lose too quickly.

When playing, I agree 100% with pfren!

But it would be nice to have a takeback feature to help with live analysis.