Yesterday I posted a question about the rules of correspondence chess and made an hypothetical argument which involved the BIG C. (no it was not related to cancer, also if for chess.com the argument needs to be demonized, and placed under censorship).

Another user told me that here is dangerous to speak about the big pink elephant in the living room. I didn't understand it, till today when I saw that my topic became locked and moved to off topic.

Now I do understand the need of censoring some topics, because they could violate the right parents have of teaching children who could attend this site.

But to go to such an extent as create a censorship site, which cannot discuss upon the BIG C topic, but we are only allowed to talk endlessly about who would win between Kasparov and Fischer (or vice versa) or if Morphy was better than Fischer or if Karpov could beat Fischer... well I hope you understood the idea, well to me seems childish, and most of all doesn't entice me, as user of the site to upgrade, and give money to people who decide for me what I can talk about or not.

Again I don't think the Big C is a indecent topic, and I don't understand why chess.com decided it for me that it was indecent to speak or ask a question about it. Since from the answers was possible to see that many people don't understand the rules of correspondence chess, and how engines, databases, and books checked by engines are influencing chess.

I do believe it would be more mature for chess.com to prepare a survey asking to its users if they would like to have a forum where they can discuss freely the BIG C, without the censorship patrol to stop discussions about ethics and how chess laws should change or be applied to some cases of correspondence chess and the BIG C topic.

I also believe chess.com is making a disservice to spread chess knowledge between the low echelon of amateurs, in preventing and censoring these discussions.

Chess.com has asked that cheating not be discussed in the general forums, but you may freely discuss this topic in the Cheating Forum. No censorship is occurring; anyone may join the Cheating Forum. Chess.com has stated that they do not want people to become overly and unnecessarily anxious or paranoid about such an unsavory possibility as cheating.

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

This forum doesn't exist so we can discuss important issues in chess!  It only exists so chess.com has a bunch of unique content and gets a better search engine ranking.  They would rather have people discuss nice happy things of lesser consequence.

edit:  Additionally, they don't want to be associated with the pink elephant and would hate pages and pages of discussion about it on chess.com coming up in searches about it.  Public relations in the modern era of SEO.

The site's official statement is as follows:

"Note also that, to keep our regular forums free of a subject that tends to cause unnecessary anxiety, we have created a special group forum for discussions of cheating in online chess.  Please restrict your comments on the subject (if any!) to that group forum.  Thank you!"

http://support.chess.com/Knowledgebase/Article/View/124/0/cheaters--cheating-what-you-need-to-know

But it is not a forum, it is a group to join. Further your argument is nonsense. Where is the proof that I will become more anxious because I discuss an argument compared to discussing about soccer? In my country people discuss quite animately about soccer, but I didn't see the police to gather them, and put them in one place so they don't get anxious or paranoid.

Yeah! Endless worthless discussions upon who would win between Fischer and Kasparov are really what you need! 

But some adults prefer to discuss how their loved game is changing, and what new rules should be applied. So the difference is between children and adults. Chess.com believes most of the users are not mature enough to talk about a topic, and they gather them and put them in a ghetto... it reminds me of the Jews and what happened to them before and during WWII.

Well, however I do agree that chess.com can do whatever they want, and users can decide if to put money in chess.com, or chose another site where to spend their money.

@tombarolo: You are welcome to view my statement as "nonsense," but it is not an argument, since it is in strict accordance with the site's official stance on the subject.

Yes, the Cheating Forum is a group that one must join. However, absolutely anyone may join the group. Membership therein is not limited in any way, so no censorship is taking place.

In any case, the site has unequivocally stated that cheating may not be discussed in the main forums, while it may be freely discussed in the Cheating Forum.