If you cancel it while the [Cancel this game] link is available (which will be for one or two moves; I'm not quite sure) then the game will disappear as if it never existed. You'll be asked to confirm the action.

If the cancel is no longer there then the game is going to count and you'll see the effect on your rating and stats if you resign it.

Some people do that and it's a bit wierd. There's no backgammony reason for it and no player who knows how to use the cube would use it as a tactic.

It's actually giving you an advantage in the game because if things go their way and they reach a position where they'd double and you'd drop (ie. they double because they don't want to risk the game turning around), they no longer have that option and have to take the risk.

On the other hand if things go your way, a 4-cube is an even scarier thing to take than a 2-cube so they might be more inclined to drop, even if they shouldn't. (Although, having initially plonked the cube on the board for no reason, they may not play cubes "as they should" anyway! ;o)

Anyway, take it as a good thing, more fool them, whenever someone doubles after just one move. :-)

I don't care for that at all although I accept it in a few people who I play fairly often. Mostly if someone is unresponsive to my greetings then they become a candidate for my ignore list. That's not so much to stop them talking to me (they're already not doing that!), it's because in games with them *I* won't be able to talk - and that means I won't get to say "Good luck" only to have it ignored. Defensive ignoring. :-)

Sometimes, though, it's because they haven't noticed the greeting, perhaps they have so many games that it's clickery with a blur. The snag with allowing for that possibility is that you can go beyond the cancel period.

One option is to send them a message. Another is to cancel the game and then send a message explaining why and saying that if their silence was a misunderstanding then let's have another. But that's perhaps getting a bit complicated. ;-)