The simple fact that you come and share your own experience is already something against disliking you.
Your approach is interesting at least to hear about, for players like me who had another go world based on real life interaction, go clubs…
I think it’s pretty hard and almost impossible to reach any intermediate level at go if you don’t meet any experienced player or get some good books or website. So by some kind of communication, being just playing or some piece of reviews or Life and death… Each time you benefit from the knowledge that others have accumulated before you. There is a deep difference in this with video games. Besides that go community is quite open to share and friendly in its biggest part.
Almost nothing will ask you to return the favor. The only thing I know is a little sign (the tilde) on another go server when you play too exclusively stronger players. In fact the favor is returned naturally for multiple reasons, like you progress yourself by your own teaching, you get this pleasure to guide and share what you learned yourself you want to learn more and for that you need to show what you learned and so on. Maybe because go is more an introspection on yourself, a way to learn some balance and auto control as a annihilation of your opponent.
Yeah, I’ve been playing at a Go club in person for a few years now. And I tried to read some books. And I got last place in a tournament. I’d say I’m intermediate.
I’m just trying to help you understand the frame of mind of internet go, as oppose to in person. It’s more like a video game. You turn on the machine, the machine is what you interact with. Not a person. There’s a puzzle to solve, the person doesn’t matter.
On a site like this, playing games can feel like alone time, even though it’s not. It’s a way to kill time.
I completely agree on that bias of internet go. I remember the time of yahoo games, one of the most wild go meeting online full of sandbaggers and I am just going to crush you mentality (and even cheaters). It’s nice that go servers now care more to try to police that to make newcomers and beginners more prone to stay.
Even if the internet go is biased like a video game, you still need to keep up with some go spirit in which you need to care about the moves of your opponent, to not be over-anything (aggressive,pretentious,jaleous,secure…) and that’s make it in some way difficult to just be like a video game. Or ok you just gonna go sandbag to make it possible.
I try not to sandbag. But I’m ranked automatically by the machine. I have to renew my membership to the AGA to be formally ranked.
I got up to 9 kyu and I was happy about that, I’m sadder when it goes down.
But I always try my best. Ganbatte! Sorry I watch anime. “Do your best” in Japanese. I try to be nice to people.
I try not to be mean to my video games either. They’ll make a robopocalypse one day if I do.
Well I like arguing and debate, but all much more for a general interest and ideas as against anyone.
And of course we check our rating. I could argue now that if you want more progress you ll have to accept sometimes to see your rating going down… But ok we go OT.
Hope best for your go adventures
Thanks for sharing! :D
It was interesting to read – I’ve never played much basketball myself.
It’s not the type of thing you associate with the board game crowd.
My dad was a huge work out guy-- first he was obsessed with baseball, then basketball. He once finished a marathon and he once cross country skied to work. Now that he’s older he’s into golf. Anyone can do that it’s for rich people and old people.
So he tried to get every kid into it too. It worked better for the girls than my brother, who had cerebral palsy. The doctor said he was born with half a brain. He wasn’t, he got through it, and was brilliant and the best person ever. I mean he had no problems except for his sight, he eventually didn’t need the crutches anymore. But he was more of a chess guy. He died mysteriously in New York right after he turned 20. Just after his birthday.
Believe it or not when I was little, I wanted to be a basketball player. I started playing as soon as I could hold a ball. It was great. Some of the girls were taller than me, so I felt like a short person. I miss it. Growing up I would say I’m average but now I’m 5 foot 8 so I’m short even for a female basketball player, but still tall for a girl. Really though, what helped me on the court was speed, endurance, long powerful legs, and strength.
But I started having a lot of seizures when I was 13, diagnosed with epilepsy. My dad got mad at me that I quit basketball though. But I figure, a hobby like Go is safer. Although actually I broke my arm while playing internet Go because of a seizure. I was just sitting at my computer. It took me a while to really find Go though. I played video games. I was pretty lost.
Because it seems you play go since not so long, may I ask you if you tried already to play it face to face in some go club?
I wonder, do most forumgoers have a Go club within easy range?
I don’t.
That could make an interesting new topic
Edit: done 
Near me there are 2 go clubs within a 30 minute drive and 4 more within a 60 minute drive.
But I live in a fairly densely populated area (my province has about 500 inhabitants per square km, similar to New Jersey).
Only now I realized that gg means get good.
No but really in most cases I think people writing it would mean “good game”, either “have a good game” if at the start of the game, or “that was a good game” at the end of the game.
In other cases one might say “after this sequence it was gg” as in game over, in the sense that the players will be saying “gg” to each other after this plays out.
Now if they say
then they might as well be saying “git gud” 
We could maybe make it our own, it means “(this was) Good Go”, as in this was a nice game we played.
Start writing ggo in particular to really make it our own 
Start writing ggo in particular to really make it our own
Edit: not to be confused with jigo (gee-go).
I mean, “gogo” is only around the corner at this point…
I’m not sure if this has already been said before. Anyway it seems that “gg” has quite a different meaning in other games.
When my girlfriend played some go games on OGS, she told me that she was surprised by people writing “gg” at the start of the game.
From her experience with other games, people only write it at the end of the game. Sometimes it is even used as a mocking before the game ends, as if to say “gg I won, game is already over”. So in particular it’s fine to write “gg” after the game ended, but widely considered rude to write it before the end.
Seems like there is a big disparity of how different gaming cultures interpret “gg”.
GG is the very lazy translation of hi gg which is the very lazy translation of hello, let’s have a good game.
So maybe it’s here where the games cultures differ
In Starcraft, “gg” is usually said right before resigning, and then the opponent often responds with “gg” as well (if he is quick enough to do it before the game ends). At the start of the game, it is common to say “glhf” (good luck, have fun).
There is also the “offensive gg”: saying “gg” when your opponent is far behind, meaning that they should resign. But that is considered rude behaviour.
But Starcraft is a fast paced game, so you usually don’t want to waste precious seconds to type full sentences while playing.