Antisemitism on chess.com

There are a disproportionate number of players on the platform who openly hate Jews. Every day I have to put up with people using the chat feature to tell me how much they hate my people. Something needs to change. Why isn’t there an automatic hate speech detection function to permanently ban people who threaten violence against groups of people. Not just Jews. No one should have to suffer this rope of abuse. But for most toes of hate speech people are embarrassed to actually speak up. Antisemitism seems to be the exception where people from mainly the USA and Europe appear to be proud to hate Jews like it’s chic and fashionable to be a bigot in this realm. The irony is that I get more tolerance from Arab countries than I do from western countries. I can have civilized chats with people from Iran and Lebanon, countries that are actually political enemies of Israel, and the people on the other side are kind and polite. Yet from the western countries that claim to be the “first world” I get a constant barrage of vitriol, insults, and threats that my people will soon be wiped off the planet. There are lots of people who need to do some soul searching. But also chess.com needs to step up and have automated protections in place to prevent this sort of abuse.

Disable chat, problem solved.

Hey there, i'm sorry you've had this experience. If you come across any abusive chat messages or posts please report them. My inbox is always open, feel free to message me anytime and i'll try my best to respond quickly.

Support do handle reports. Moderators can also report on a users behalf and investigate

Send me a link to the hate and I will report it.

You can always mute or block a user. 😊

I misread the topic and thought we were talking about absenteeism.

Not saying there shouldn’t be, but it’s a temporary option while the report is being looked over. You can block and move on with your day, the internet is full of weirdos don’t let a few out of millions ruin the  suns rays shining down on you. 

Just block the player(s) offending you

Turn off chat or [edited - JG] - please don't suggest actions that may violate tos

I’m sure they handle reports that have merit.

Maybe change the flag next to your username to an international one (the only thing telling others you're Jewish besides this post is the flag)

Being Jewish myself, that’s pretty crazy to hear. However you should just turn off chat, it’s the best solution.

When I lived in Israel and had the Israeli flag on my profile I got a lot of hate from our Middle Eastern "cousins".  The upside was that many of the opponents would immediately abort the game and lose points rather than play an Israeli. Now that I'm back in the US I've never had an issue.

A new account created just for hate.  Could be just trolling of course. Who would know?

And here we have the answer

It's exceptional and historical. It's specifically called antisemitism not racism nor religious hate.  As for soul searching, probably all parties have to do this.  We are all unfortunately held accountable in the public eye for our associates' sins.

Hate is bad, even hate for evil imho.

Automated hate speech detection can easily end up in wider censorship.  Maybe they should not have anonymous accounts anymore so that people are accountable. But then of course the membership numbers would drop. It's a business after at all.

I'm really sorry to hear that this is happening.  It amazes me that people who have been handed everything on a platter can be so hostile to people from a country that has had to fight tooth and nail, day after day, for 75 years just for the right to exist.

Yes too few moderators- although no cost for chess.com- for to many spammers or haters which is totally unacceptable; Reporting works sometimes if you insist and report and report... I report around 100 people a day.

I could get rid of Hilter or Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il avatars, Stalin all dictators... 

Turning off chat isn´t the solution since haters won´t be punished or taught as they should. 

Peace amomg people, chess is a great game: 

Thanks for Jews for giving us players like Kasparov and others....

Garry Kasparov | Biography, Facts, Deep Blue, Chess, & Games | Britannica