Why is everyone low rated so ridiculously good?

I've only played like 6 games and I'm already very clearly seeing this - despite being completely new and at the default 1000 rating, the people I play against are just so much better. What's the reason for this? Are people intentionally keeping their rating down so they can smack Newbies around? It's really frustrating to just start out and already get beaten easily by almost everyone.

The main thing is that 1000 is not a beginner rating.

If someone learned chess for the first time, meaning, if someone didn't know how the pieces moved yesterday, then their rating would probably be below zero if we're being honest... but of course it will quickly go up.

With no other instruction, and a few months of casual playing (maybe 100 games total) they'd probably be doing quite well to be rated around 500... at least if they knew the values of the pieces (queen, rook, bishop, knight, pawn = 9, 5, 3, 3, 1) and maybe a basic checkmate (like two rooks vs king).

1000 is low, sure, but at the same time it combines some experience and some knowledge. For example the opening principles and basic tactical patterns (forks, pins, discoveries, and removing the defender). Many people also casually watch youtube videos by masters, which isn't very instructional, but it's better than nothing.

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So for example in your most recent game against @eversnaxolotl you play 3...f6 to support the pawn push e5, but moving the f pawn in the opening is something all beginners are told not to do. Mostly because it weakens the king's position, but also because it makes it harder to develop the kingside knight.

On move 12, your opponent played 12.Nxf6 which was a check and a "discovered" attack on your bishop (moving the knight uncovered the queen's attack). If I were new I'd certainly be amazed by white's idea, but in truth this is a common and basic tactical motif.

Also I guess I should mention that ratings are not an absolute measure like how much a person weighs or how fast they can run. Ratings measure you relative to others in that particular playing population.

In other words you can be 1200 on one website, or in one time control, but at the same time you can be rated 800 on a different site (or the same site but a different time control).

You've only had 7 games so far, keep calm, if you keep getting beaten you're ranking will drop and you'll get matched against more even players. You can also adjust the game so that you only match against people with maximum 50 ranking above you for instance.

When I first joined, I could beat most of my family so I thought I was an "intermediate" player. It turned out I was not 1200, I was 800 rated to my dismay. Sometimes you think you are good, when in reality you are not.

Your rating will adjust and you will start winning about 50% of your games. You may be rated too highly, but give it time and you will have some competitive games.

But if 1000 isn't a Beginner's rating, why is that what you start out at? It just demotivates new players for no good reason to be smacked around by experienced players. Like, I get that I'm not the best player by a long shot, but then why do I have the same ranking as people that are much better? And the ranking doesn't even drop in a fair manner, because others keep disconnecting which gifts you points...

@Wildekaart nobody asked for your rudeness. Thanks for the other, genuine answers though.

When I made my account on a PC there were 5 options like "new, beginner, intermediate, etc"

It doesn't tell you, but that will set your initial rating. I think the lowest starts you at 600 but I'm not sure.

I didn't consider how people leaving the game would unfairly pump up your rating. Yeah, that would be frustrating.

I mostly play on lichess.com, and when I started my account I had such minor experience playing, but with profound arrogance I set my rating to 1200. It quickly dropped to around 400 as I suffered many embarrassing losses, and I was frustrated just as you are. However I'm not one to quit in the face of difficulty, so I kept grinding, studied a bit on the side (I'm no classically trained chess player), and recognized that the development of skill has more to do with effort over time than it does with innate talent, and now I'm rated around 1700 in rapid, blitz, and bullet. I'm 25, started playing at 23 and I don't plan on stopping. Just stick with it and dedicate a bit of yourself to the game and you'll become more skilled and passionate as a result. This will spill over into various other domains of your life as well, and the resulting benefits will be exponential. The toolkit developed via chess is powerful.

A true beginner Elo rating is in the 100 - 300 range. 1,000 is an average player with a lot of games of experience. Once your rating is at an appropriate level, you will start to win about 1/2 or your games. 

you probably answered you're intermediate that why your rating start at 1000.

i'm beginner i was playing from 200 rating (well start at 400 but when i lose my rating drop to 200 and there - people at 200 rating actually begining .. like me at that time - we don't even know opening just know how to move piece around the borad.)

i mean at 1000 rating you seem to doing fine tho 50/50 chance win or lose...

When I first started playing OTB 10 years ago or so, 800 rating tended to be kids making almost random moves.  In fact I don't recall seeing anyon ever rated below that because just learning basic concepts got you into low 1000s pretty quickly.  I usually float around 1200 here and 1400 on another site.  I think low rated players seem so strong is 2 fold. One, there is just a very large player base, two, playing quick time controls online with more distractions deflates ratings.  There are times when I'm playing on my phone and watching tv at the same time, but maybe the next day I'm playing on my computer with white noise on.

some people come here knowing the game already and are still rated low on first few games, causing them to destroy people. 

Does not matter-- they will move out of the beginners soon, and you have a game to learn from. 

Another thing worth mentioning is with such a day over day influx of players maybe rating is not the best guage of improvement in the short term.  Ask yourself if your current self could beat a version of yourself from a month or year ago.

ok buck weat

OP started at 800, never went below that, and sits at 1007... so not exactly slapped around. 

(winning the first game resulted in +191 pts)

Because some people play more on different chess websites such as lichess, chesskid, etc.

**All beginners who watch Ben Finegold👌😁