Bencf03 has had his account cancelled. We can't understand why. What can we do?

Probably nothing.

Better to submit a ticket than post this in the forums.

I didn't see Bencf03 on the list of caught cheaters, but that might be why.

Here's what chess.com has to say about that:

You closed the account of someone I know - I'm sure they weren't cheating!
Sorry that you are upset. Unfortunately, people do cheat - sometimes even really nice people. Again, we only close accounts when we are absolutely certain, not because of suspicion. [italics added]

Can someone appeal if their account is closed?

• We are happy to listen, but generally speaking, appeals are unsuccessful [italics added]
• The usual pattern is that the member denies cheating and demands proof, and then we maintain that they were indeed cheating and we're not at liberty to disclose how we proved it: Pretty futile.

I can't help but notice the incongruity between the two statements.  They take this action only when "we are absolutely certain" but appeals are generally unsuccessful.  Which means appeals are sometimes successful.  So, therefore... maybe they weren't "absolutely certain" after all.

I'm just glad I live in America, where our government would never take the position that 'we're absolutely certain you're guilty, but we're not at liberty to disclose proof.'  Let's hope chess.com never gets access to armed drones...

FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS A PERSON MAY CANCEL HIS ACCOUNT AT ANY TIME-----IT IS NO REASON TO BE UPSET.  

he has been re-instated. great news

Talk to him, he may tell you himself :)

The answer my friend is blowing in the wind.

His a/c isn't closed ? ( at least not any more )  bencf03 

What is cheating in this? Looking at an openings book?

The a/c wasn't closed for cheating. The reason would be something else & likely bencf03 knows what happened.

Yes I don't think we have answered Lady in Red's question...which became mine. What is cheating in on-lone chess?

Well it's not something that is supposed to be openly-discussed in the forums. There is a group (Cheating Forum) that people can join to discuss things. Also some information here :

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/community/chesscom---list-of-caught-cheaters

No worries Lady in Red. I am as keen as you to find out!!!

Just been to that cheating link. There are stacks of players who have been 'outed'!! Seems that using computers is the biggie.

Ask him why his account was auto disabled (not by staff).

I can tell you it was definitely not cheat related.

If you want to discuss cheating, please do it in this group

http://www.chess.com/groups/home/cheating-forum