Agreed, but this:
I don’t understand. I’m ~8k and I have no problem playing newbies. At. All.
I just give ’em Handicap and/or play on smaller boards, also w/ hopefully appropriate HC, and enjoy them blasting me off the board 
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sorry, i should have made my post clear.
that was an example of some of the ideas that had come before. I’m against stopping new players from wanting to play more experienced players. Only in this way do people really learn. I have played people much stronger than me and learned a lot from the experience.
Also, side note, i think we are now about the same rank. Its only taken me a year or so but I’m finally above 10kyu.
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I feel like something else that could deter players is the starting rank being rather high. It starts at what, like 12.3k, which is way higher than most new players are at. Maybe start at 21k?
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The whole starting rank thing is an issue in and of itself I think. however, no matter what is done you are going to annoy some people. If you start it so low then you will have higher rank players having to work up from that rank and have that rank next to their name. Having people pick their rank is going to cause problems of weaker players claiming to be stronger and visa versa of that. Starting the ranking high will not only deter new players who don’t know the ranking but will also cause problems for the people of that rank who believe they are playing a person of that rank, even if there is a “?” next to the name.
The only other thing that can be done is to do a test or something, and that is equally as frustrating if not more.
No matter what is done in this area, someone is going to be annoyed.
Before you guys continue this discussion, best read the entire thread here: I think the 13k default rank is doing harm .
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Thanks for the link, will do!
I think it would be a good idea to allow new accounts to set their own starting rank up to maybe 1k, or possibly higher. This way beginners can start from the bottom and dans can start at 1k. Either way, I think airbaggers and sandbaggers would have their ranks adjusted pretty swiftly through regular play.
Much of this problem seems to stem from starting everyone off at the same arbitrary middle rank.
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Now you are going over old ground.
As @smurph said, this topic (the starting rank) is covered in depth here.
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Are we sure it’s a problem? Confirming e-mail is a bit painful, sometimes you want to try a website before giving up your e-mail. For example, lichess has an option to play completely anonymously against other anonymous players.
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Even if we are sure it’s a problem. Require an e-mail address don’t solve it. You can get new e-mail addresses anywhere on the web.
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Yeah, I personally have infinite email addresses on my own domain…
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Go is such a complicated game, sometimes it’s like, what can a person do?
I remember the first Go game I ever played. I was on Yahoo and we were both beginners. One of us made a dragon, the other captured, and we were now at a loss for what to do next - so we quit.
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This show in fact prompted me to join.
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Awesome! Welcome ^.^
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problems arising from people trying to jump right into Go without really knowing what’s going on
It should be OBVIOUS to new users how to get started if they want to join or play go.
a way to ensure that new people only play new people.
Not sure what SOME of you guys/gals are expecting from new players but most people today are not going to sit and read 35,000 pages before they graciously and humbly ask for the great pleasure and honor of playing you due to your exuberant rank… (yes that’s honestly how I felt reading the comments here) its not unreasonable to jump into a game with out more than a 30 second though of hey ill learn to play a 20 minute game yea it sucks for who ever gets the bad opponent but they should be catching on within a few games or they will be done after a few games.( I’m guilty of it) I’m a week in, still clueless on 98% of the game had a slight issue with scoring a board, (I thought auto score worked my opponent pointed out it did not, no biggie… but honestly seems to me that players in the Go community (not just this one) are expecting us to have played for 6 months before we play against someone.
I mean it would be like asking people studying investing / real estate just to play a game of monopoly.
but in all seriousness I respect that it took you time to earn your rank. but with < 20 US pro’s lighten up…
Bad Habits at Sensei's Library I stopped counting a bullet point #70
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Without wanting the “stir the s***” as they say over here, I have to agree with a few other posters that the main or perhaps only issue with beginners being mistaken for trolls (if that does happen) is because of the 13k starting rank. If you’re marked out as one of the stronger DDKs then you can’t blame other players for assuming you to be that. Whereas if you’re marked out clearly as a 20k or a 25k then nobody will be too surprised if you, for instance, play your first ten moves in the same corner.
I have one idea which wouldn’t need us to all bail out of thread and jump back into the mire of the 13k default rank debate: you could have a simple tickbox in the account settings that says “I am a beginner. [ ]” When you make a new account, you get asked whether you’re a beginner and if you turn the setting on a little message saying “(Beginner)” appears under your name in a game. That way you can still have a misleading rank like 11k? or 15k? but all your opponents will know what’s up. Not perfect, I know, but it’s a thought.
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I watched the surrounding game 2 days ago having never heard of Go before, and now I’m here trying to learn, so I wouldnt be suprised if theres many more like me. Unlike the original post though im just doing puzzles
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Awesome! Welcome ^.^
could always have a guest feature, and give the option to other players to not accept game requests from guests… this is one of the few things that Flyordie did right.