Why I no longer cheat

I appreciate the content in the first few on-topic posts in this thread, which game me some insight into the issue. I would love to hear more stories, from others who have cheated, about the reasons/history of cheating. It would be especially interesting to find out how they overcame it too.

that's the whole point of the thread, but some children here and there just cannot get it

No, I get it.

"I used to cheat but then one day it dawned upon me that it was wrong so I stopped."

Wow. Thanks for the insightful thread. So before you didn't know the difference between right and wrong, or you did but you chose to ignore it. Pathetic either way if you ask me.

ooh, I didn't know that am speaking to a prophet, my mistake

Yo what happened here, people started comparing cheating in a game to beating their wife. Next they'll say that they don't agree with former drug addicts sharing their story of becoming clean and why they don't do drugs anymore. Let's just all chill out, it's just a thread. There is no reason to be upset, either side.

well, the reason I try my best to speak on the subject is that I don't feel people speak out against it enough. If cheating were perceived as a taboo less people would do it. If we highlighted the character flaws of a person who cheats, we could make the problem better.

I speak out against cheating and now I'm the villain. That's pretty sad and shows how twisted your mind is. I say that it's totally wrong and I'm the bad guy.

You say you have stopped cheating yet all the character flaws that caused you to cheat are still there as evidenced by your attitude.

Nah, cheating is nothing like drug addicts sharing their stories.

Becoming addicted to drugs is understandable. Some people wanted to have more fun and they started doing drugs and became physically addicted. Period. And now they have a big problem and need help.

People who cheat in chess are lying. Not white lying but lying. They pass themselves off as superior because they have low self esteem or want to make others feel inferior. Either way it's pathetic. It has nothing to do with getting addicted to drugs. They have some sort of resource and they abuse it. They're corrupt and they're liars.

Maybe you like having liars in your inner circle and if someone is corrupt and lies you don't have a problem with it. I don't like it. I feel the same way towards corrupt politicians, guys who hit their wives and girlfriends, doctors who manipulate studies and experiments for their own profit, etc.

Please correct me, but you haven't been speaking out just against cheating, but also him for saying he isn't a cheater anymore. By saying he's going to be a cheater forever, and all this is "false redemption" (26) and "pathetic" (30). You don't realize this, but every other cheater who may have opened this thread has read your posts and decided "well, if I'm going to be pathetic and have no hope for redemption anyway, why stop?". So congratulations and thank you for that.

And you have no idea how addiction works, something can be physically and/or psychologically addicting, but that isn't even the point. The point was that someone who had a problem doesn't anymore and is trying to tell others who still have that problem that it isn't worth it, which inherently has more value than someone who never had the problem, such as yourself, from saying the same thing.
You're an IM so I'd like to assume you're a smart enough person to know how to just leave threads you don't like. Please prove me right.

I think even the OP agrees that cheating isn't commendable, but I appreciate the post which led to this discussion. Thanks for being honest OP, and I hope more people have similar changes of heart.

P.S. as a relatively weak player, I'd say losing isn't so bad! It can actually be instructive/helpful depending on how much time you analyze (or if you have a stronger player helping you)