Recently played a game against a new player. Went to scoring, both players accepted the score. The server decision message is on the game page, even though I did not win by server decision:
If you look on my profile you can see the win says “W+97.5 point, ranked” instead of win by server decision. I think the message will appear not just if someone accepts the server decision, but simply by being offered a win by server decision.
All of their stones were dead, if I played any more moves I would have been losing points. I was offered the option to win the game after passing three times in a row, but I think this can be confusing and/or disheartening for new players when they lose that way. I kept passing until they came to the conclusion that there was nothing left for them to gain. However, I think having the message appear unnecessarily is also confusing for new players, or even more experienced players who are new to the site.
This system is here because it is a lot more frustrating and disheartening for players to be forced to keep passing when trolls or confused beginners do not finish the game in a timely fashion.
Short of having full time moderators on standby to leap in and explain what’s happening at a moment’s notice in any game (I guess we’re waiting for a billionaire sponsor for this one) there is no way to please everyone.
The occasional “Wait, what was that??” experience for a beginner like you opponent is “less worse” than the stream of complaints we face when there is no mechanism that ends the game when one player continues when they should not.
I feel like I haven’t been clear. I don’t have an issue with the system at all. In this game I personally didn’t feel frustrated and was happy for them to figure it out themself. The part you quoted above was not my complaint, I was just explaining my behaviour. I suppose it was superfluous and didn’t need to be in my post.