Is there something in the ladder algorithm that will remove players who do not move?

I suspect there may be an issue. For example, look at the player Flegeton:

https://www.littlegolem.net/jsp/info/player.jsp?plid=38518

He is in several ladders but never makes a move, so he keeps losing by forfeit and keeps losing rating points. Yet he stays at the bottom of all the ladders and keeps getting new games.

Eventually, everyone will die. Do players who die continue to stick around as ghosts in the ladders? Constantly shredding their once glorious ratings?

On some other servers, anyone in a Ladder that loses by timeout is automatically removed from the ladder.

They can of course rejoin … but at the bottom of the Ladder.

I recall seeing players disappear from the ladder after facing me and others multiple times without a win, but it took an awful long time. If there was and still is a mechanism to remove players, it needs retooling to a much lower threshold, perhaps two consecutive timeouts or a single timeout in which no moves were made.

Yes specially in the ladder games a faster remove mechanism is necessary. I had 2 such timeouts the last few days.

If inactive for a year then move them to the “Inactive Players Ladder”

If 4 years inactive in the Inactive Players Ladder then move them to the “Very Inactive Players Ladder”

If 16 years ………. “Very Very I……

Yea it's really annoying with all the inactive players in the ladders, you waste so many games on them. How about implementing a mechanism that removes a player from the ladder if a player doesn't make a move in 3 games in a row? Or at least something similar?

Is this a thing? I was curious also, as a relatively newer player to little golem. When I join a ladder from the bottom I often get very many games where a player either times out on their first move (first or second move of the game), or some people instead just resign the game instead.

It is a bit silly to probably have to wait weeks to just start a single game.

i agree a timout should remove them. they can reenter later. same goes for championships.

Somehow, I was sure that there is a mechanism for removing players who have not made a move for 3 games. I don't know why. I must have dreamed it.

But just to hammer home the point a bit more. Here's the scenario, you join the site, you think Infinity Tournament/Ladder sounds really cool, you'll just keep getting games and you'll get to try out something cool like Twixt or Hex and then

Twixt: 8/11 of your games you've played so far are ended with 0 or 1 moves played.

Hex: 11/17 of your games you've played so far are ended with 0 or 1 moves played. (one additional one ended with 3 moves).

I don't think it's a great look for the ladders to have so many inactive people, especially compared to how small the ladders are anyway.

Now I probably haven't paid enough attention to the actual game results, some could be timeouts and some could be people resigning as soon as they get a new game.

It's no shade on the people that timeout. It's fine people come and go, people have real life to deal with, and I don't necessarily expect they'll remember or even want to drop out of these things themselves, which is why some automated system could really improve the new players experience by removing these players before they time out over and over.

For example, I think the most recent player that ended a game against me in Twixt with no moves played, seems like they've timed out/resigned of the last 100 or so games. I don't think they're playing Twixt anymore or want to :)

So I think there should be a way to remove these players from ladders, if they timeout of a game or resign a game on move 0/1. They can always rejoin.

There is also a question on a related subject. Is there any way to temporarily suspend own participation in the ladder? For example, if I know that I will be absent for the next 30 days, I need to leave the ladder, and then return to the very bottom. It would be great if there was an opportunity to take a break (probably with some kind of limit). Or, for example, that the “leave” status removes a player from the ladder not immediately after the end of the last game, but with a delay of, say, 2 months.

Maybe 2D ladders (called grids)

if you are first player you move along X axis (if you go negative you fall off the grid)
second player is Y axis

pairings are highest X+Y against each other but playing their lowest axis (if not the same)

the tricky part is displaying a Grid with players names on and showing who is playing who

I notice that some players who have been absent for a long time have the “Leaving” status on the ladder. Although the player himself has not appeared on the site since last year. So, some kind of removal mechanism is working.

Just want to +1 this. Having to wait 10 days or more just to get a game is a pretty unacceptable UX.