On OGS; under Japanese rules the handicap stones are placed automatically. Under Chinese rules black may place them where he/she likes.
So far so good. I’m all in favour of options. I’m wondering if this arrangement sometimes leads to cancellations because black accepts the game and then doesn’t see the extra stones they are expecting to see.
Could a small tweak be made to clearly show black how many handi-stones he/she still has to place?
It also happens under japanese rules. See this game with huge handicap:
Opening the game and finding an empty goban was confusing at first.
After the second move it all became clear, but you have to try! If you don’t, it’s easy to think that something went wrong.