Pruning the chess.com garden

As I write this, chess.com has 459,738 members and is closing on half a million. A magic number in a very short time.

Of course, not all of those members are active but it's still impressive, and the inactive accounts need to be protected so that when a lapsed member returns s/he can continue to play without signing up again. Prodigals are welcome!

I also have two lists that also fail to reflect actual usage: my Friends and Groups.

Every once in a while I go through my Friends list and delete anybody who hasn't been on line in the previous three months. Many of those names are deleted with regret, for they are people with whom I'd rather not have lost contact, but they can always be added again if they return.

Today I checked my Groups list as well and realised that I was making no contribution to three of them. Out with the pruning shears and, Snip! Snip!

My remaining three are the Dream Team, Team Australia, and the Black Shield Assassins. (If you check my lists you'll find I also belong to something called the Back Room, but that's purely an editorial sub-group who will produce the Assassins' newsletter, due for release on February 14—the anniversary of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.)

I get a lot of requests to join groups but, except for the Assassins and Team Australia, I refuse. (I sought out the Dream Team because I wanted to play in one of their tournaments.)

A recent chess.com survey (you'll find it at the top of THIS PAGE) revealed that 60% of us belong to five or less groups. That seems fairly reasonable unless, like a cub scout, we're collecting merit badges.

So, what's your opinion?

Do you maintain all the names on your friends' list so you won't forget them?  How many group invitations do you get?  Lots, or just a few? 

Do you stay in groups once you've joined? 

Or do you sharpen your secateurs from time to time and prune the chess.com garden?

I apply a policy of "tit for two tats".

I go back and forth on this sort of thing.  I used to be a lot more 'type-A' about friends & groups (etc., etc.) on Facebook - to the point where, on one occasion, my Facebook account seemed so thoroughly meaningless that I deactivated it.

Nowadays, I try to tell myself that, after all, it doesn't matter much.  It's not like my neglected chess.com groups are cluttering up the coffee table in my living room or occupying any real resources that I could be using for other things.

But it's hard sometimes to resist the urge to cull.

I guess part of it has to do with wanting to maintain some purity of... identity? or representativeness (if that's a word) in terms of the things that are linked to one's online persona.

As an aside, Burger King had a deal going on where they'd give you a free Whopper to drop ten Facebook friends.  Mighty neighbourly...  :-D

I don't think I'm active or well-known enough to warrant any type of attention, so I have very few groups and friends, however I do typically approve any friend request with or without justification because it "costs" me nothing, and I'm not bothered either way by a bloated or nonexistant friend list. I figure since we're all here to play chess, it might be worth the game that inevitably comes from it.

David, as usual, your articles make me want to deepen my view on a certain thing /  topic. I usually get bored easily with my profile, so make a lot of changes there. I also cut some blog posts of my own creation when they are no longer "contemporary".  Now I  have reached the friends list issue. I haven't been in that particular page for a few months. I am like a dog....I will be faithful and loial to everybody that I consider a friend so deleting a name from that list ain't for me. I can spend years without hearing from a friend . In my opinion, that matters not so much. I learned that no matter of geography and the distance between us, the friend that I have is precious. I made some friends here on chess com and my joy is to always come here and be greated by one of them , that tiny little green light blinking as he / she says "hello". I can always count on them to accept a game from me . In fact, I would be dissapointed if they didn't want to play  with me anymore. That may mean that I really screwed up.

Do you maintain all the names on your friends' list so you won't forget them? 

I maintain them , if they are not here today, they may come back tomorrow. How many group invitations do you get?  Lots, or just a few?  more now that I have a "twinkle" beside my name. I hardly ever reply with a "yes" because they usually invite me when there is a tourney coming.  I prefer to play games with my friends.

Do you stay in groups once you've joined?   depends what "staying" means : am I active in the group, write or reply to notes / blogs / challenges  ?  or  do I just read the occasional article if I find it interesting ?  - I read the occasional article. I don't know as much of chess to analyze a game or create a puzzle. I am a reader.

Going back to the friends list : should I ever leave chess.com for 3 months, would you delete me from your friend's list ?  lolz David, you can never get rid of me . Remember I got your mail address and will haunt  you  with giggles and laughs till you fall of your pc chair.

And oh how the pruning hurts *sniff*

as the head of chess.com i cannot prune friends. too politically tough ;) however, i try to avoid joining groups because i know i can't participate - too busy :(

i love you all and every time a person leaves chess.com (doesn't login) i cry 1/100,000th of a tear.

I don't prune my friends (I don't see the reason) but I did prune my groups also. It got too ridiculous, when every time I logged in I got an alert, because someone posted something in some group.

I think I'm basically in only one group now, the C project.

I especially dislike groups which seem to invite high-rated players, just to advertise to other players that they have some of the titled players in their group. Meh.

artfizz:   I apply a policy of "tit for two tats".  Artfizz, in the world of mysterious comments that's right up there with the best that's offered from the London Times crossword.  It went straight over the top.  To which you are entitled to comment, "Tut, tut!"

DeepGreene:   It's not like my neglected chess.com groups are cluttering up the coffee table in my living room or occupying any real resources.  I think you've read my mind a little there.  It's not the coffee table that gets to me, it's the clutter in the mind.  BTW, very clever choice of handle and, like you, I could have lived without the last three Star Wars movies.  (I refused a free ticket for the third.)

Eniamar:  I don't think I'm active or well-known enough to warrant any type of attention, so I have very few groups and friends, however I do typically approve any friend request with or without justification because it "costs" me nothing.  I think you've got to the nub of it.  I probably have a fairly high profile but, like yourself, I never refuse a friend request although sometimes I wonder why the request was made.  As an example, this week I deleted two friend requests from people who sent them the day they joined chess.com, which was also the last day they were ever on line.  Strange.

emiab:  should I ever leave chess.com for 3 months, would you delete me from your friend's list ?  Impossible, Ada.  You're engraved on my heart.  Besides, if I didn't mention you once every couple of days my wife would start to wonder what had happened to you :-)

qtsii:  And oh how the pruning hurts *sniff*  Yours was the only group I regretted leaving, qtsii, but I rarely visit and make no contribution.  I certainly didn't delete you from my friends list.

erik:  i know i can't participate - too busy :(  This we understand, Erik.  It's the reason I've never sent you a challenge.

ozzie_c_cobblepot:  I especially dislike groups which seem to invite high-rated players, just to advertise to other players that they have some of the titled players in their group. Meh.  I don't have to worry about that.  One of the nice things about being average is that I know that I only get invites because of my youthful good looks and sunny smile...

Erik only has to shed 1/2,500,000th of a tear now. That's deflation for you.

I don't bother to prune friends though I don't stay in touch witth most of them. I recently pruned groups and may continue to do so. I have a lot of games going at any given time and I belong to many groups simply because they provide team matches. Only a few groups provide good forum  chit chat.

Yegods, artfizz, that's dragging one out of the past but, as always, totally appropriate. 

My semi-triennial forum review.

Semi-triennal is the same kind of word as demijohn which, according to Richard Ianelli, is half an American bathroom ...

Reminds me of the famous Tennyson poem:

"Half a leak, half a leak, half a leak onward!"

LOL, but you've picked a sore spot. Half a leak has been my problem for some time now. I'm probably safe in posting this on an obscure thread without it becoming common chess.com knowledge, but take a look at this story on my senior cits' web site: http://www.u3anepean.org/microwave.html

Thought provoking.

That's why we play chess.

"...

To every man upon this earth

Death cometh soon or late.

And how can man die better

than facing fearful odds,

..."

Don't write me off yet, I've still got a few games left.

Even so the radiation has fogged the brain and I think I've only managed three or four wins from my last 25 games. I should be back to normal by Xmas but it's been a bit frustrating to make blunders that would make a beginner blush.

Dear Staff, sometime ago, it may well be back 2007 although it feels earlier, I had an account on Chessac.org. I have little interest in regaining any points I might have accumulated but there used to be a wonderful feature where you could export your games. Is there any chance that my account information still exists? I was never a prolific player so in all probability my details have been erased, but if there is any information for Simon Jordan from Monterrey Mexico, user name either MexicanToffee or Toffeeman I would really like to retrieve it. Either way, I look forward to playing some chess again. The new site looks great.