OTB is one story, on line is another, too many factors to take into account, to explain, yo!

Well one good thing from this post, it has changed my behavior. Seeing how many of you disagree as to when it's proper to resign, or to never resign, or getting annoyed that someone did resign, I see there are many points of view. So since this post started I now chat to my opponent (if possible) and tell them I think I've lost, and then ask if they mind if I resign or would they like to play it out. So far everyone has been very curteous in response to this approach. I even had one gentlemanly opponent resign before answering me (and he was winning big time), he said "I can resign too". He was very polite and kind about it, it wasn't sarcastic. How about that??? It blew my mind.

A weird idea that just occurred to me, perhaps it would possible to sort threads by topic (not just the range of topics) so that people could quickly check whether the same or very similar topic was discussed before, and where. Or perhaps this function already exists ?

You've been a member since Feb 2009, about 2 years. So you've seen and have commented and are sick of it. But I'm a newbie and you haven't heard my deep profound thoughts on this old topic, and being the genius that I am, I'm sure you haven't seen mental vomit the color of mine. So let us newbies blab about the same old stuff. Someone earlier properly said the topic header is correctly labeled, so we don't have to enter threads that are old and of no interest. True point.

I did say it was a weird idea, and no I didn't actually think it would help much. 

Doesn't matter if it was discussed before.  They want to enter into a dialogue, part of the purpose of a thread is social interaction.  Viewing old threads doesn't serve the same purpose.   Sometimes they just want to vent their frustrations.  As long as their titles aren't misleading, I don't see how they harm anyone.  I have no problem with someone pointing out in a constructive and friendly manner preexisting threads.   But too often, I see trolls like echecs06 use it as excuse to bully and berate the poster.

+1

Excellent point, and very well put.

Just don't resurrect ancient threads, which is its own violation of etiquette.

So why don't players resign?

Fezzik said:

>>Asking the same question repeatedly wears on the respondent.<<

Only if you let it.  No one is forcing you to respond to the question, or even click on the thread.  There seems to be plenty of people willing to discuss the question. 

Pedagogically  it may be better for a student to look things up for himself, but this isn't school.  This a place to relax and have friendly discussions. BTW if I was looking for an authoritative answer to a chess question, the forums at chess.com wouldn't be where I would be doing any serious research.

In that case, you're missing out. There is a ton of gold in this site.

(Mostly in Erik's house, but that's a thread for a different day)

Now that sounds like an interesting thread!

Speaking of gold, much of that buried content bears a fresh airing. If it didn't, then we haven't been doing as good a job as I thought we were.

Not merely as a naked bump, perhaps in most cases, admittedly. If the poster can't contribute meaningfully he usually ought to leave things as is.

Exceptions I can think of: Wonderful batgirl posts that are gathering dust, and similar historical and cultural offerings.

They can use a bump a few times a year.

Also the schmidlap manoeuvre or whatever it is called.

Some will play to the end no matter what. When comes to "War On The Board" nothing should be a surprise.

I can't tell if you're joking or not.

This might sound illogical, but from their point of view, they probably feel that you somehow don't deserve to win and therefore want to waste as much of your time as possible so that you don't just get a free win.