Hi Everyone,
I was playing go with a friend on the website, and as we were playing next to each other, we noted that the goban was facing the same side for each of us. I don’t know if it was because we weren’t playing in competitive, or else, but I think this might interest some of you, as I believe that the fact that two player don’t see the same thing is pretty important.
It’s the same thing, it’s just reverse. For playing online it doesn’t make much of a difference.
It isn’t the same thing and a go server could easily make an experiment and have half of the games be equal and half of them opposite and see if it changes win rates of individual players or colors.
The board state isn’t any different like I said, aside from it being reversed. I doubt it would have any affect on win rates.
It’s the standard on all servers I know. I have seen instances where on the first move black played in the lower left corner as a curtesy, so that it looks to white like black played in the correct corner. And then white got angry, because black was so impolite to start in the wrong corner…
In online play, when communicating via chat, I find it convenient that ‘top right corner’ for me is also ‘top right corner’ for the other player, esp. in teaching games. When you sit at a real goban, you can point and wave, but that is hard in chat.
I agree that this is nice, I just do not agree that it does not make a difference. At my level, I cannot do joseki equally well in all orientations. I know that is sad, but it is also true.
I must admit it never even occured to me that opponent might have his board flipped 
It would be terribly confusing for any communication and thust very impractical in my opinion.
Hm, that I understand, but having the board flipped to your opponent would not solve this, would it?
If you really wanted to and are using Nvidia GC you can use ctrl+alt+directional key to quickly flip the screen (life hack)
Thank you all for your responses, I now understand the reasons a bit more. And Adam3141, this is a good life hack 
I might add that, as far as I know, your proposal is not customary in any go server.
Much unlike chess, there’s no clear direction towards which a player must play. The board could very well be flipped or rotated, the resulting game would be equivalent.
Furthermore, regarding the de facto standard coordinates, and SGF creation, it might result confusing (you could download a game file which ends up being reversed from your perspective).
PS: now that I think of it, maybe IGS has this custom. I couldn’t be sure.
Edit: just to be clear I oppose this. I’d agree to a flip button though, or a checkbox setting, but only as a non priority.
I think the main justification for this is communication. I might say to my opponent, “I was trying to invade the left-side but hadn’t seen that you’d get so much influence from the top-left corner,” it would be very confusing for both parties if my left was their right and my top was their bottom.
The way things are currently makes sense and should be kept. Adding a feature to rotate the board adds little value whilst increasing the risk of miscommunication.
At my level, I do joseki equally badly in all orientations. Is this the same thing?
I agree that it could be a miscommunication potential, but I think this would also give OGS a little more to add that feature in the future. If we can use that in friendly matches, or propose it at the beginning of the game, and if the opponent accepts it then the whole game is played reversed afterwards.
I firmly disagree with implementing this. It’s wholly unnecessary beyond some silly superstition, is not in use on any internet Go site as far as I’m aware, and would only serve to add confusion and complexity in SGF creation and game saving. Even with it being just an option, this clutters up the interface with essentially pointless options.
I totally understand where you’re coming from, but it’s one of those things that would do much more harm than good.
You make a good point. Come to think of it, I oppose this altogether.
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