I like the algorithm of the ranking system.

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A good system naturally covers all corner cases without further effort.

Because wms will like this post.

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a1h1 [1d]: You just need to curse the gods and defend.
Good Go = Shape.
Associação Portuguesa de Go

In more seriousness, because of the reviewing tools, automatch, and the ranking algorithm. I know it's harder to understand than others, but it seems to do its job pretty well.

I also like the look and feel, and the anti-misclick option but maybe that's because it's what I'm used to.

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a1h1 [1d]: You just need to curse the gods and defend.
Good Go = Shape.
Associação Portuguesa de Go

Reviewing/discussion are great and easy, and there are lots of stronger players willing to review a game (and many weaker players looking for reviews). Tournaments are also nicely set up and fun.

The social aspect is very nice, with its occaisional annoyances, and KGS makes that work so much easier, it could happen on IGS, but it simply does not.

The review aspect is simply fantastic. I play a weekly, handicap changing game with a 3 dan friend of mine, and, overtime, I pushed him to 3 stones on IGS. Finally I begged him to switch to KGS, so we could review the games. This is a long time IGSer - one of the first - and he loves it.

Unfortunately, the review system works so well my days of giving him 3 stones will probably end soon.

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My days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle

+ People and community
+ CGoban is good SGF editor
+ Game tracking and graphs

KGS is cool because it is influenced by and a product of the Zeitgeist.

Well, when I saw this thread I thought: KGS is a great server and indispensable for the non-Asian (western)
Go community, but is it cool? It may have been cool to play on KGS when most westerners still played
on IGS, but now it is the established server; nowadays it is rather cool to play on servers where you struggle to log in because you cannot
decipher the script. Anyway since I don't really precisely know what cool means (I am no longer in my teens and that since a while), I looked it
up on wikipedia and stole the definition. (In true form they defined "cool" in a cool way.)

Cheers

hackinger

Another very cool feature which I think has not been mentioned yet is the possibility to clone games.

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Stay out of my territory! (W. White, aka Heisenberg)

because you can chat there. I cannot understand how people survive on igs when there's only deadly silence.

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长考出臭棋.

I looooovveee KGS. But the french room is home of so many trolls ... pushing people around without being "too aggressiv". They even take pride and display quote of people getting mad at them in their profile.

Back on the subject : I love to be able to log in to KGS, hit the auto-match shortcut and play a game within 5 minutes

KGS is cool because...

...you can watch TheCaptain kill a dragon that goes right across the board, and then half way back again!

So many different styles of play, and so easy to find your favourite players' games to watch and learn from.

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Attack your enemy where he is vulnerable. Invincibility depends on yourself. Your enemy's vulnerability depends on him.
If your enemy has no weakness, make yourself invincible. When he develops a vulnerability, attack!
Sun Tzu - The art of War

KGS is cool because of the community. There's in-jokes and fads and trends and the teaching ladder and sarcastic comments and on top of that it's a nice place to play go. Probably 99% of my games have been played on KGS and it feels safe and friendly and fun.

KGS is cool because you can ask chess players, "So what's your equivalent of KGS? You know, a place you can play online for free, with many features designed specifically for teaching, and where you can even get taught by stronger players for free? Oh, you don't have any? Oh... guess I'll just stick with Go then."

For me, Kgs is like a huge go-salon.
there is a huge room where everyone is playing and you can watch every game
there are small rooms on the sides for private games, if someone doesnt want to be disturbed;
Areas just to chat around, some rooms with tables for teachers and students.

what's missing is the sexy girl on the entrance showing the way in and the beer-redbull-vending machine

i really like kgs

KGS is great. Its a great place to play go, or just hang out with other go playing friends. The game review features are awesome.

The admins are great too. They keep the place nice and clean. A few may get a little over zealous at times, but they've never bothered me

Overall, not too bad. I like it.

So I take it you haven't met the admin "sweety"?

Although right, we are missing the vending machine.

KGS is cool because you can meet nice people from all over the world, give 'em a low kick and poke out their eyes, and afterwards they still say "thanks."

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Patience, grasshopper.

Because I can:

1) Get a game in whenever I want against a person (large user base)
2) Confirm that I can still beat dumb computer programs (bot room)
3) Confirm that I can still lose to better computer programs (bot room pt. 2)
4) Get some feedback from much stronger players while watching games (lively kibitz with decent players observing)
5) Read ridiculous comments in kibitz and drive myself batty for reading them (the 'TMZ affect')
6) See/chat with some people in reasonably restricted group areas (good room structure and options)

Bruce "Even though my room got killed" Young

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Currently reading: Plutarch, Cerebus, and D&Q 25th Anniversary

1) I can log on and sit there thinking about playing a game at any time I want
2) Log in and end up watching a couple games of much stronger players when I should be sleeping
3) Play some games every once in a while

KGS is a great place, and it has definitely been a great boost for me and I've been able to get a lot of games I would not have been able to otherwise. It has also been a very nice tool even for playing with people I see face-to-face. Some times the meet-ups just don't work as well. Also, it was nice when I was running one of the short "teaching" sections at our Go club -- so remote people could also follow along.

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KGS: schultz [?].

You mean you don't start swearing at your monitor when the game starts going badly for you?