What are the standard greetings / thankings for game talk here?

I have no idea and am a bit surprised no one has said much - certainly nothing polite - in the few games I have had.

Yes, people don't say much.  That doesn't mean you can't say something.

Don't be surprised if people read your comments as sarcastic.

When you've lost, a "gg" or good game is about as far as most people go.

Hm. Thanks for the feedback, that will be exciting when that happens. *Dissolves into the sarchasm*

Lol didn't help that when my last person was non communicative I thought their flag was from Brazil so started speaking spanish to them, now I see it was a Jamaican flag

My standard greeting is to play e4.  Or if I'm black just silently panic and play any move.

one of the barriers I find to saying hello to a fellow chess player in live is the rushed nature of move 1 before the game gets aborted , ive tried to get round this by saying hello on move two but this isn't the best chess etiquette as then I think I may be distracting the other player , thankfully I find myself less time constrained to say thankyou for the game, or good game , well played  before I resign draw or win ,

I start every game with "hello, good luck", but mostly get no reaction, wich makes me feel stupid.

But I won't adapt to anti-social chessplayers so I keep doing it.

I have to say I mostly play 15 minutes games so there's more than enough time.

Welcome to the internet.

1) People are rude. It's like all their anger in real life gets bottled up and they want to take it out here, where they can't be punished.

2) Lots of people don't speak English. We have lots of Asian and Eastern European players. You won't have many conversations with them unless they're bilingual.

3) People aren't here to make friends. They just want to play chess and that's it. If you want to socialise then join an OTB club.

If your opponent plays as white it is usually e4 or d4 and for leaving the most usual is a warming silence

@Deranged - Yes, people are rude. And that's truly unfortunate. When the internet emerged as a global phenomenon it was expected to bring people together and encourage the free flow of ideas. It was expected to be a tool by which humanity became more enlightened. Sadly, the opposite has happened.

Too many people here and elsewhere like to spend their time hiding behind their screen name and saying things to strangers that they would never say face-to-face. Insults, sarcasm and ridicule that I read on Chess.com are the main reasons I don't want to buy a membership. Why pay money to be laughed at and trolled?

Why can't people come here to socialize about chess? I don't know anyone who plays chess, and for various reasons an OTB club is not an option for me.

As far as Asian players are concerned, I think there are far more of them who understand at least a little English than there are English speakers who understand Asian languages.

Ok, but some of you underestimate the wide range of weirdness.

I had one guy tell me that anyone who dared to send a message like "hi" or "how are you?" at the start of the game received a special punishment. He would refuse to play a move after such rude treatment... why? Because in blitz typing takes time. Obviously the only reason to type "hi" at the beginning was to try to get an edge on the clock, and he found this very rude.

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Anyway, I tend to think of the silent people as the sane ones, and people who try to chat as beginners.

The usual start is to say nothing and shake hands.

The usual end is to say "good game" and shake hands.

People from Vulcan usually will say something like "peace and long life" instead of "good game".  Women usually will add "would you like me to get you some tea?" after "good game".  Fish will usually just say "blob, blob, blob" , which loosely translates to "if I beat you, then you really suck".

@Stiggling - Well, I see your point about greetings and blitz. I'm nowhere near good enough to play blitz. But if I were, I suppose I would be hyper-conscious about time. 

I think saying "hi" in blitz is fine, I think that other guy was crazy for being offended 

You need to understand that pretty much anything you say when playing online is considered:

Cheating.

Taunting.

Abuse.

And when you realize that none of this happens in real life?  You get an idea of online chess.

I look quite a lot at the 3-minute games played by top players on the front page. Sometimes, the match is clearly decided (but not ended) and both players have plenty time left. But nothing happens, the time ticks away for the losing player and after half a minute or so the game ends by time.

I think they might be chatting in that time. But I don't know

The 1st rule of fight club is there is no fight club.

Yes I know that but deep down I believe that they see that you are trying, as everyone that speaks portugese or spanish understands the other, so  if it would make them think you might be mentally inferior, and relax too much, so  you might beat them, which I did in the last game XD

Plus I dont know any portugese except DE DONDE AIREs. ( sorry if that's spelt completely wrong I learnt from actual speakers )

Thanks everyone for the responses they are very entertaining, except yours which was really informative and yeh that clock is quite intense.