Eliminate the Abort option

Quite a useful feature

This is an internet chess site, not a FIDE tournament.  There are situations that have been highlighted in this thread that speak to the need for an abort option.  While I agree that it could be improved to minimize the opportunity for abuse, I don't think that it can be eliminated altogether.  Abuse of the facilities available here should be dealt with as abuse, not by removing those facilities.

Should have known that such a cantankerous debate would come about in a thread about abortion.

Abort the eliminate option

Optionalize the abort elimination.

Wait, what was the question?

I think an easy way to solve this is they should impose an age limit for the internet.  If you remove all the whinny babies, then aborting very early in the game doesn't matter to anyone.  We all just move on and find another game or another site.  I've never not been able to find a game of chess online for the last 8 years.  I've never cried about it either.

78 comments and 1,552 views so far.  I never imagined that this topic (or any topic) woulld attract this much attention.  Here is the original post for those who have lost the thread:

Aborting a game is: very annoying to the other player, wastes the other player's time, is bad sportsmanship, cheats the other player out of a win and points,  and defeats the whole purpose of agreeing to play a game of chess in the first place.  Resigning a game is the better way to go about it. 

If you agree that the abort option should be eliminated, please add  your comments to this thread.  Hopefully chess.com will be listening!

Please, I do not want to have to press a sanity button every time I accept a seek. Nor do I want to wait 45 minutes at my 1-0 time control game because my opponent is afk.   I get maybe 1 abort abuse in 500 games, whereas there are significantly greater intances of regular aborts that make sense.  Just remember freedom comes with a price, you lose 8 rating points every 100 games to some jerk who got to a losing position in 3 moves.  But I argue the benefit is much greater.  Think of the 10's or even 100's of points you save by not playing the impossible computer due to misclick, not playing the game you were about to start because it is time for dinner, or you have a phone call.  Taking away a FEATURE does not make any sense.  Following this logic one might propose that  the opening database should be removed from the site because it can be accessed during a game. I say we concede the minor inconvenience of abort abuse, for the greater good that comes from having it.  It is all about trade offs and this one is a no brainer. 

Keep "abort". The benefits outweigh the costs.

If there was some reliable way of "locking" an open seek before actually accepting then I would have more sympathy for the "No abort" posse. However, that list/graph dances away in front of my eyes and occasionally I select a game against an undesirable opponent at an undesirable time control. What's a bloke to do? play 60 + 60 against a guy from another league? watch him play all his moves at breakneck speed to a losing position, then go silent and time out.... I only came in for a game of 5 minute chess!

As things stand, the "Abort" button is a necessary evil, the lesser of two evils.

"Mwa ha hahaha!"

TheMouse

I would stop playing against that guy after the second game .

Why did you still play more games with that idiot?

I don't see how eliminating the free choice of colors eliminates the abuse of the abort button.  The abusers will continue to abort when they don't get white.  However, I do agree that there are justifiable reasons for using the abort button.

Once again, there are numerous legitimate reasons for the use of the abort button, many of which have been listed in this thread.  Just because a feature can be abused does not mean it should be removed.

Address the abuse, as you've suggested, but do not make the retention of the feature a condition of the eradication of the abuse of it.

Hopefully the way the matching and colour selection algorithm works is to look at the overall balance of black vs. white between the two opponents, and whoever is more out of balance is the determinant for who gets white and who gets black (with the obvious objective of moving them closer to a balanced ratio).

This won't completely eliminate the abuse of the abort function for the purpose of colour selection, but it will ultimately make it innefective and futile for that purpose so it will hopefully actually reduce it.

When you compare abort abuse and colour selection abuse, abort abuse is easily the lesser of two evils.

One option is to make the relevant statistics, such as abort %, available, and possibly even criteria you can use to filter seeks (both those you accept, and who can accept yours).  Then the control over how often you encounter the abuses for which this has been enabled is in your hands.

You do realize that if they abort so that they can play you as a different color, you can do the same thing to them or just refuse to play them?

I just played someone who blundered a bishop on the third move then resigned with no change in rating. That's just wrong.

On the contrary the abort feature and it's use are very logical and satisfactory for the great majority of players.  What are there 5 people in this thread who can't take it?  Most are arguing the use and logic of the feature over and over to the whiny minority.

Actually, we can keep the button anyway.  Staff doesn't have to do what you say.  Orangehonda is right, there's no evidence that your desires are those of a clear majority, only that you are persistent in the matter.

Still waiting. 

Still waiting. 

Still waiting. 

You'll probably end up typing that a lot more.