Chess.com’s community is changing

Chess.com’s community is changing. I’ve noticed that as we grow, we are becoming more and more like every other community site, with all the anger and sarcasm in the forums and elsewhere. 

Chess.com used to be set apart for the great community of chess players who where at least a little kinder and didn’t take things so personally, and who didn’t spend endlessly long threads bickering about pointless topics unrelated to chess in any way.

Why not just turn to “Submit Comment” button into a “Report Abuse” button?

Well, it’s not as bad as all that… Yet.

I’m not accusing anyone, but please don’t be apart of this viciousness.

A voice of reason climbs out from the noise of madness .

Very well said. Most of the time now, I only play my friends. I do not play people i do'nt know personally. It only took a few times playing someone and getting trash talked during the game. Turned me off to the whole meeting new players. I'm not crying the blues, just facts. Thanks for the topic knightly.

Kinda biting on what kabuki said Im only playing ppl I know in correspondence, uless its a tourney... ppl get so mad when theyre losing. I had a kid tell me he f'ing hated me and said he would stab me... I laughed it of and made a snide remark back, but sheesh, too much.

  I had someone the other day tell me I was a "f***ing Idiot", and that I should go kill myself. I told him I would have him banned for such verbal abuse, and he actually apologized.

  But when I'm not playing with friends, I usually try to avoid talking with my opponent. Sad, really, what the internet has come to.

Its alot easier to yell at someone when you are behind a screen. E-Thuging seems to be the way anymore.

  I play alot of poker, and I have never in a live tourney or cash game have a person get in my face and go off. Yet online, you see it all the time.

Its the beauty and beast of online play.

I thought chess was a gentelmans game?

They think they are protected, and that as you don't know who they are, it's okay. Well, I've got news for you... IT'S NOT!

The part you said about the forums its so true...I have only been a member to to wonderful site for about 6 months, but i can see a difference in the forums since i started reading and posting here. I think it should be ok to discuss non-chess related things too on this forum, but the one thing that really bugs me, is the number of rude and childish people posting aroung at threads...I mean, if you dont have any useful to say, just shut up. I dont want to se this forum turn into a good old "geek" forum where all the fun is about calling each other names, and beeing rude. Remember folks...Chess is for gentlemans, and good sportsmen...Act this way to:)

This is how I feel too. I won't join tournaments anymore. And I'm careful about starting new games. Too many people getting too angry about too many things that are well within the rules. It's not really experiences I've had with opponents but rather the things I read in the forums like these paranoid cheating accusations and the never ending criticism of people for not resigning or playing too slow. Really takes the pleasure out of playing. On the plus side, I'm involved in some vote games at the group level which I find enjoyable because we are all friends on the same team. But I don't play in the big public vote games anymore. I enjoy playing individual games at other sites where there is little or no discussion. Some of the topics here are enjoyable but there's a lot of negativity. I'm here mostly for the chess.

Yes ,very good advice..."If you have nothing to say - don't sayt !"

Not sure if this relates with live chess here, but the few games I play there, I always have the Chat Disabled button ticked, so I wouldn't listen to any childish comments that distract me from my thinking. 

Great topic and don't let a few kids put you off of this excellent chess site! 

Stop whining about what people say... people say a billion things, if you think about them, what you will respond, etc etc... You are wasting YOUR time, and now you're wasting my time and other people's time.

Especially "Verbal abuse" reports, if there ever was a bigger joke--now you're wasting moderators' time.

The chess community is what it is, but be aware as with every popular ANYTHING there will be off-topic discussion. The chess.com team tries hard to stop crazy discussions even in live-chat, but it's very difficult. It's like trying to stop people from pirating...

Instead, enjoy the game, TALK with people you play with (I noticed there are a lot of anti-social idiots around who don't talk with you at all, some even disable chat, and they beat you, and then they finally say "gg", like as if I care now what he says... Start with a hello, say something like "oh yeah that move 12 was terrible move" etc... something USEFUL)-- it's no surprise people say horrible things at the end of a game because you don't even talk the whole game.

I've had nothing but positive experiences with my opponents in the games I've played over the last 9 months on this site. Should someone ever get 'mouthy' with me I'll just ignore them and carry on playing being a little extra inspired to win the game. And I won't complain if someone plays within the rules such as using all of their time to make their move. It always amazes me that others complain about someone playing within the rules of the game.

I seen a few internet forums, this is just part of the Cycle of e-Life. It's the reproductive phase, where countless mini-forums are spawned as the old regulars try to recapture the magic of the olden days, when there were fewer contributors to dilute their importance, and everyone lived in a happy little utopia where the assholes were part of the community and so tolerated.

This forum is uniqe though in having preemptively set up housing for its twisted offspring, so if you don't like the big bad world, just set up a utopia group and only invite really nice people.

I agree with the OP on this one.  When I joined, I could literally go to a topic like chess openings and read every single one there because they all posed meaningful questions.  Now, I can't find that many forums in these topic areas that have an actual point.  I still love chess.com and their new features, but I believe the forums have deteriorated to some extent

I wonder if things would be better if it was a Members Only type of site, where you had to pay a fee to use it? I've never really encountered anyone overly mean, most people have been very pleasant actually, but I would guess most of the overly rude people are basic members, and a lot fo the younger people that seem to be complained about probably couldn't or wouldn't pay, so it might clean it up.  Not advocating the idea, just putting it on the "board" so to speak. 

People feel secure enough to talk big and give abuse on the internet - it's part of online life. It's like screaming abuse from a distance and running away. People who do this have issues in real life that make it necessary for them to feel good about themselves by abusing others. Pity them.

Don't let this stop you playing in tournaments and making the most of this site. If you get inappropriate chat frequently then just disable the chat window. If your opponent is getting frustrated at your style of play (maybe you play too slowly for their taste or are refusing to resign or whatever) then their play will probably deteriorate, they may offer a draw, timeout or resign, but they can't shout abuse at you. If the comments in the forums offend you then report abuse, and ignore posts from that user. If you don't like off-topic threads then don't read them.

The tools are already in place to make this site what you want it to be. If you want it to be better, keep adding to it things that you feel are worthwhile and ignore the things you dislike. As it gets bigger we will get more anti-social behaviour, but there are still a lot of good people joining and staying.

100% right!!! Enjoy the best chess site on the net and ignore the bad behaviour!