Red Thumbs Update

[Kayvon]

"The only way for them to kick you is if you go over your allotted time repeatedly. The system allows you several chances to remedy before allowing them to kick you out of the game. "

Wrong.

I can understand that you're angry, but it doesn't make the statement wrong.

If you go over time, a player can try to kick you. The first time this happens, you're given some amount of time (20 seconds?) to remedy the situation, even though you've already gone past your commitment.

If it happens again, you're again given half that much time to remedy.

Etc.

True, if you fail to ever remedy it, you get kicked. That implies that they've warned you and you still weren't able to correct the issue.

So the system allows you several chances, but only if you take them.

I did not have several chances. I had no chances to remedy this situation because during the time that my internet connection went down, I couldn't play at all.

You are correct. Because you were unable to remedy the situation and continue playing, they moved on without you.

As others have suggested repeatedly, you should choose games with longer times if this appears to be a frequent occurrence for you. Just as you're entitled to use your entire turn time, other players are entitled to expect you to meet the time you committed to when joining the game.

[Exotic Dreams]

I think it's kinder not to boot other players in these circumstances either.
I would suggest trying to get a player's attention. When I've been kicked under these circumstances, I didn't red thumb the player who kicked me.

[Exotic Dreams]

Yes and also other players can easily abandon games or switch to turn based when other player( s) are unable to play anymore either due to the BGA webpage crashing or other factors beyond a player's control.

If a player's opponent disappears from a game, how are they to differentiate between someone who didn't like the way the game was going and rage quit, vs. someone who got distracted and forgot they were playing an online game, vs. someone whose internet dropped out, etc. And while you might say the first should be booted and the third should not, what about the second? Is being distracted and forgetting what you were doing reason enough to boot? I've been distracted by my kids before and got booted from a game - others mention being distracted by a phone call or the doorbell. My opponent didn't know my reasons and even if I happen to think they are justified, they may not, and are within their rights to boot me. I learned not play real-time games when my kids are underfoot.

So if they choose to boot their opponent, but their reasons were genuine, well, it's probably an occasional occurrence, and they'll be able to gain their rep back easily. On the other hand, if they choose not to boot their opponent, who is a person who just rage quits when they don't like the outcome, now that person can go and do that again to someone else. Until they hit enough opponents who actually boot them. You can run by whatever standards you want - if you want to always give your opponent a chance, go ahead. But others get to choose how they operate too. And if you go over time, you can't expect someone to follow your standards.

As an aside, I personally give someone over time a fair amount of grace - a couple of days into the red for turn-based, and a good 5 minutes into the red for real-time (which I only play really occasionally). It's a pretty rare day when I boot someone from a game, as my personal stance is I'd rather play games than have to start over. But I respect the rights of other players to treat their opponents differently.

How can you tell?. B GA will give a message that the other player has lost internet connection.

As for players who are still online and not playing for whatever reason.
I think it's kinder not to boot other players when there's a delay for whatever reason. I would suggest trying to get another player's attention. When I've been kicked under these circumstances, I didn't red thumb the player who kicked me.

[Jellby]

It's also kinder not to win games. Whenever you're in a winning position, you can offer to abandon the game instead, so no one's feelings get hurt. If you're concerned about losing or players kicking each other, play in friendly mode.

[Exotic Dreams]

As long as the bill is paid, individuals don't have control over internet connection.

It didn't say it was yours to control, I said it was yours to manage in terms of how it affects your play. If you happen to have a flaky internet connection that drops out frequently, don't attempt real-time games. If your connection is generally stable, then you're probably fine, though you may have to wear the odd inconvenience of being dropped and getting a penalty. Other people are inconvenienced by a dropout on their internet too - maybe it killed a download you were waiting on, or maybe you missed the last seconds of an online auction. Sometimes annoying things happen in your life.

Although I don't think the internet service provider will do much about losing internet connection for a couple of minutes.

Correct. Most internet providers will probably have some kind of clause in their terms of service indicating that intermittent faults may happen and it's not their responsibility. You wear the impact of those faults - in this case, it includes a minor dip on your reputation on BGA, which is easily recovered if your connection is mostly fine.

Also, it looks like pulling the network cable would give you infinite thinking time according to your arguments.

Also, this. When BGA reports players online, it's when they have the website open and connected to the internet (more or less, not necessarily reliable as Jellby says). As Jellby also points out, people can easily abuse that kind of system, or even more deceptively, take a screenshot of the game state, then close my browser. Now I'm offline! Oh, I can't possibly get back on to make my move for at least a few minutes while I inspect the board state and figure out my absolute best move...

I do agree that anyone with a flaky internet connection should choose turn based games. I would suggest contacting the internet provider to figure out why the internet connection is dropping as I have.
I don't know what you consider a flaky internet connection. My internet connection mysteriously dropped again two days later again for a couple of minutes again.

So actually I am only playing turn based games until I can get answer from my internet provider.
Yes, I would hope others would do the right thing and abandon or switch to turn based when another player can't make a move, but also I don't think a player should make other players wait on purpose if a problem is suspected.