Is Chess.com run by Racists and Negrophobes?

So to start off, I should state that my account was closed by chess.com on December 4th 2015 (18 days ago).  Their supposed reason for banning me was for "Spam" - to which no proof was provided. They later reinstated my account, which I will get to shortly.  Also, I should mention that I was not informed via email when (or why) my account was closed, nor was I informed when (or why) my account was reinstated.

I decided to email them asking why they closed my account while they insist on not closing accounts of people who call others n*ggers, c*unts, f*ckheads, etc., nor do they close accounts of people you tell others to kill themselves.  I also asked if they closed my account because I was black. Their response was that it was a non-discriminant account closure, and it had nothing to do with my race - which should have been obvious as I have never posted a picture of myself.

I told them that I was reporting this to several media outlets anyway (one of which I am an intern for) due to the fact that racist cyber-bullying is so prevelant on this site - they have since reactivated my account. 

This prompts me to ask, why did they reactivate my account?  What is there to be afraid of, especially if my account closure was non-discriminant?  Why were the rules bent for my account and everybody else's account closures are set in stone? Are they guilty of something?

There's only two possible answers...

1...perhaps they felt it would appease me to bend the rules and they thought I would quietly continue using this site without questioning the intention of their actions while other's banned for spam weren't given the same treatment.

2...perhaps they don't want to be confronted with race controversy so instead of facing it and standing by their story, they gave the accuser (myself) special treatment.

Either way, It seems as though the fear of being perceived as a racist organization has driven Chess.com to not treat their members equally.  Apparently not having to answer for your actions is more important than enforcing equal rules for everybody. 

For the record, I truly didn't feel that Chess.com was racist when all of this started, but in light of what has transpired it seems way more probable.  Us black folk shouldn't be treated differently than anybody else - we most certainly shouldn't be treated poorly, nor should we be treated with special care solely because of a matter of race.

I would love it for chess.com's staff to publicly weigh in on this...It's going to make for an already interesting story. 

PS. It's not true what they say, not all publicity is good publicity.

Anybody care to weigh in on this?

Yeah it really pisses me off, too.  It's okay though, I've informed my superiors about this and they said that they will pick up the story if enough people come forward.  Thank you so much leeroy, hopefully more people speak out against this so we can help spread the word on national television, which I hope to do at my job @ MSNBC!

You know this thread will be closed as soon as an admin sees it. Right? Ok good.

That's ok randomchamp, it is being archived, screenshots are being taken and it just helps the story.  And why might I ask do you think they would take it down??

It is in the correct forum category and it is addressing a serious issue in the chess.com community, so I couldn't see why they would take it down unless they're trying to hide something from their users.

I'm Asian. Racist jerks are everywhere; especially to Asians.

First a disclaimer, I am not a staff member so what I say here is my take on  it and my understanding on how things work (and the rules here).

That said, the site is not racist and can't even know what race a player is unless they post a picture, state that somewhere in their profile or use their real name (as their username or in the name field).

Are some of the players on the site racist? Yeah, there is a very good chance since players of all nationalities, races and backgrounds play chess and may have accounts here. Does the site tolerate racism? No. It is specifically against the rules.

The main problem is that all content on the site can not be actively policed. There are some automated processes to try and catch flagrant things; filters in chat that can stop some things from showing, can automatically mute players, etc. Some automated processes can also catch spamming and it is possible that you got caught in the automated process; after reviewing it was probably decided that what the auto-process caught was not spam and they reinstated your account.

There are also moderators and staff members and they can not catch everything either; there is just too much content posted. If you encounter racism, take a screenshot and report it directly to support via the contact form: https://support.chess.com/customer/portal/emails/new

I also can't say if staff may or may not close this topic. It is a subject matter that can become very heated, very quickly and get out of control.

       By your own admission, your account was closed for SPAM. That's not a race issue.      "Also, I should mention that I was not informed via email when (or why) my account was closed, nor was I informed when (or why) my account was reinstated".        Your asking staff to be convinient for someone who broke the rules? 

For reference.

Posting Rules: http://www.chess.com/forum/view/community/chesscom-posting-rules

Abuse Reporting:

• https://support.chess.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1444785-my-opponent-said-some-very-abusive-and-rude-things-what-should-i-do-
• https://support.chess.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1444877-what-should-i-do-if-another-member-is-rude-or-abusive-
• https://support.chess.com/customer/en/portal/articles/1444846-what-are-the-rules-of-behavior-for-live-chess-

Legal/TOS:  http://www.chess.com/legal#rules

Understood.  I understand that everybody has been a victim of racism; Blacks, Asians, Latinos, Arabs, Whites, etc.  The real issue here is the fact that children use this website and the responsibility of the website's content falls upon the administration of the website, no matter what the EULA is with their members.  If someone violate the EULA, it is up to the administration to enforce the rules.  People have children and a lot of these people have lawyers, and I'd hate to see everybody lose their ability to use this site due to poor management.

One guy threatened (or actually did) sue them for closing his account and labeling it as a cheater (he was a chess coach and claimed it would damage his business).

Chess.com reopened his account.

At that point it's a business decision. It doesn't matter who is right, it matters to not suffer financial loss. And that's what I'm thinking on this.

But importantly, for me to not think this is just a silly troll, I have two questions:

1) Why did you ask them in an email if your account was closed because you were black when you later say you posted no picture of yourself?

2) Did you do anything that someone might be able to consider spam?

Again, the site can not actively police everything. The costs of doing so would likely be higher than any revenues generated. Or they would just stop all social aspects (no chat, no forums, no blogs), which would also kill the site.

     This isn't "The Magic Kingdom" or"Disneyland". Members complain about being rude or abnoxious. Nobody put's up with more of that then Staff. Please by the numbers alone, we're over 13 million. 1% is probably Isis sympathisers. maybe one half of 1%

First of all, R.J.Cote, I said that spam was the reason they gave for deactivating the account, I did not say that is what I was doing.  Secondly, that is not the topic at hand.  If you ever worked in IT you would know that computers aren't perfect and things can glitch. 

If you were ever on trial for a crime you did not commit, I hope that the jury doesn't look at the world as you do....Should people being charged of a crime be given a trial?  Should people be given a chance to face their accuser?  Convient for someone who breaks the rules...That's just silly.

      Posting SPAM is not a criminal act. Its against the rules, but you can't ask for the same benifits that a defendant gets.   "I did not say that is what I was doing".   So its a he said/ she said case

People come hear to play chess.  There needn't be a social aspect to it, especially if it is being used to corrupt the minds of children.  And if you've ever worked in IT, you should know how easy it is to implement precautions to prevent 90% of the pitfalls that many experience on here.

Benefits (FYP)

           ""I did not say that is what I was doing".       Since you want to air this publictly, just for ha-ha's, what's YOUR side of the story?  What WE'RE you doing?                And let's sapose for just one brief moment I was Erik.    What's your background in IT ?

Obnoxious...puts...SympathiZers (FYP)