Leechers of chess.com

I have noticed a great number of players on this site who can be best described as leechers.

These people have live chess settings with minimum rating close to their own (say -50 or sometimes even higher than their own rating), and extremely high maximums (like +500), thereby garaunteeing that they only get paired with stronger players.

This practice is not only selfish, but detrimental to chess.com. I feel it is not properly recognized as such by the community, hence the rant. 

As everyone knows, the way to get better is to play stronger opponents. But for every weaker player getting a learning experience, there is an opponent who is graciously volunteering their time to provide it. 

A healthy live chess pool is one where everybody plays both higher and lower rated opponents, allowing everyone to get better. 

Leechers, on the other hand, are a disgusting waste product of the "what's in it for me" society. They try to step on as many good samaritans as possible, without giving anything back to the community. If everyone on this site acted with such a lack of basic human decency, then you wouldn't be able to get a single game in live chess.

</rant>

Although I know chess.com will never implement this, I would like to be able to see my opponent's rating settings when I am paired. This way I can continue to help out the honest players lower than me, but squish the leechers before they take my blood.

If you don't like it then set your rating only to those you would like to play. Everyone has this option

No, I was looking at a thread of someone rated 1200 asking how to set his minimum rating range to 1500, and that pissed me off.

Um, get a life?

Not sure if trolling or didn't bother to read. Should I make a tl;dr version?

Anyone who posts anything on the forums doesn't have a life by definition. Don't be a hypocrite.

Yeah, I've seen a few of those posts too and been equally annoyed.  Not sure I understand the rest of your post though.  For instance I've also seen posts decrying the presence of "bottom feeders", those who consistently play folks several hundred points below their rating to slowly inch their own rating up without really challenging themselves.  I think the rating system is intelligently enough designed that ratings end up pretty accurate no matter what.  Although I disagree, it's still an interesting and thought provoking post so thank you for posting.

Why would I be trolling? You are complaining about the way the game seek system works. I don't understand why you believe higher rated players are "good samaritans" and lower rated players are a "disgusting waste product". Maybe you shouldn't worry about what other players are doing and just play your game. If you're having a problem beating these lower level players maybe your rating is inflated.

Straw man

Ad Hominem

I don't have time for butthurt-fueled drivel.

I respect your opinion. I didn't consider "bottom feeders", but now that I think about it I still don't mind them as much as leechers. They may or may not have an inflated rating, but they are not getting any better, and they are helping less skilled players.

I have been on chess.com for a long time so i get your point but your missing something but you have a clue what is happening here.

See these players that use this tactic have been here before and had i higher rank and want to get back to it. More or less they may a vengence against some players at the higher level and the only way they can get a chance to play them is reach a certain rank.

What do i mean by they have been here before? Well they got caught using unfair tactics in playing. So they found a way to return under a different username. So what you may not like can be a positive. They will not be robbing you of rank points on their way to the higher ranks.

A player rated 1200 wanting to play a 1500 rated player. Ouch. More than likely they can beat that person. If that was allowed on a consistant bases it would create chaos. The losing players rank would drop and creat more players playing higher rated players than themselves ...... increasing the pool of players below their previous rank by several points from their normal playing level.

I'm butt-hurt because I am pointing out the fallacies of your logic? If you don't have time for an objective view on your opinion then you shouldn't post a topic on a public forum.

Loaded question fallacy.

I find it interesting that while I have pointed out, one by one, that every single point you made on this thread thus far is a fallacy, you seem to believe that I am comitting them.

               mosai wins the argument because she has more senority here. That's the rules of a public forum.

There is no arguement, I offered him advice and he took offense to it. I will state again, if you would not like to play these people adjust what level of people you play against. It is pointless to complain about what you view as "leechers". It is not detrimental to chess.com and to say so is your opinion.

I agree that there's no "arguement", whatever that is.

I also agree that you offered your passive agressive "advice", namely "Maybe you shouldn't worry about what other players are doing and just play your game." Let me offer my own advice, maybe you shouldn't worry about what other players are worrying about and just worry about your own worries.

I did not take any offense, although arguing with you is getting a bit frustrating. It's like playing chess with a pigeon.

Playing chess with a pigeon is about as pointless as your thread. Take my "advice" if you please, if not then leave it. :) Have a great day!!

I was hoping someone more intelligent would change that. Unfortunately I'm stuck with you.

Well yes, I can avoid leechers by becoming a leecher myself. That's not a very good solution though.

It IS detrimental to chess.com. That's not an opinion, it's a simple fact.