Racism and Misogyny

Why is chess.com allowing racist and misogynist abuse like the below? I have reported the user several times - they need to be kicked off the site! Why is this not happening? Is chess.com comfortable with this level of racism and misogyny?

Sorry, the racism was in the next comment:

And I hope they do do something, but as it is they sent a message saying they have 'acted' on my abuse report, but still the abuser is on the site. This is not satisfactory - chess.com should not allow racist, misogynist users to be on the site!

They won't ban the person on first offence , the person will get a mute and then if they do it again , they will be banned ( I am pretty sure that's how it works )

That is not acceptable - racists and misogynists should not 'get another chance'. There should be zero tolerance for that kind of thing. If they do not expel the abuser I will resign my membership and ask for a refund!

Never played the person, but I think he (assume it is a he) must have another log-in on which I beat him. I never abuse, but I occasionally suggest someone should resign. No idea if I did that against this person though. But even so, it should not lead to racism and misogynist abuse! NOTHING is an excuse for that! Should simply be banned, straight out!

Just PM a mod or staff about it and they will tell you what to do 

Or you can do an urgent report here https://support.chess.com/article/209-how-do-i-report-someone , scroll down , there will be a form 

Thanks, but I have done all that, and chess.com are not expelling the abuser!

All I can assume is that chess.com is comfortable with this level of racism and misogyny!

Racism is not acceptable, but the site also will handle abuse based on the severity. Only the most extreme abuses are closed immediately. Less extreme can range from warnings, to short mutes, to long mutes, to permanent mutes, and finally account closure.

Staff makes that call based on the severity and the account's previous behavior/history.

Firstly, NO level of racism or misogyny is acceptable!

Secondly, I have reported the user each time they have continued with their abuse and have had no comment from chess.com, or an explanation as to why they regard this abuse as 'unextreme'.

Hence me opening up a forum, in the hope of getting feedback from them on the issue.

Haha is he a "Misogynistic Pig"

Other than getting a general response, you're unlikely to get a specific answer to what is done on reports.

And so the abuser keeps on doing it, every day? I shouldn't have to block individuals. For the protection of all people like this should be kicked off the site.  If chess.com are not prepared to do that they are complicit in the racism and misogyny. If that is the I will revoke my membership and request a refund, move my chess club to another site and advise others against using chess.com.

I will await a response and if none is forthcoming in two days, I'll do the above. 

I'm sorry about your situation. I didn't read your examples as they were already redacted, but my thought is that when an individual is ruining the chess experience for others (this site, after all, is supposed to be about chess, though that's becoming more and more debatable) he should be prevented by the administrators by whatever means necessary.  They have no problem deleting/editing a 'name and shame' post but when it comes to actual abuse, the very thing they should be most concerned with, they suddenly become lackadaisical to the point that the victims just become frustrated with the system. 

Granted, they want to be completely positive before taking drastic action, but over the  years this has become a bit of a sore spot.   It should also be recognized that even banning this person, or any person, doesn't really stop them. Most such people come back again and again under different guises. IP bans are worthless and even fingerprint bans can be easily circumvented.   

That said, there ARE ways to severely reduce the number of such miscreants but chess.com has always been very resistant to such measures since it would eat into their numbers and blacken their self-perception/deception as an open and inviting environment (a real open and inviting environment would do whatever it takes to prevent or at least discourage such people from joining or from acting out their hate once they do join -there are many sites without this problem).   From my perspective, they just see it as a necessary evil and may or may not take action (publicity like this does force their hand a bit).  

Well said Batgirl! I wish everyone had your integrity. The site would be a much more conducive place to play chess if the action you suggest was taken.

I didn't realise the examples had been redacted on the basis that they were 'accusations'. They really are not - I just pasted the comments from the abuser. Facts are not accusations. I will paste them in again below to see what happens. Chess.com has no right to redact such things.

@LeaMnum,

I hope you are keeping well. 

Im sorry to hear that another member was abusive towards you. This is not something we tolerate here and abusive behaviour is against our terms of service. As is publicly accusing or shaming on the site and forums. 

If you have an issue with a member please do report them, we investigate every report here and action is taken appropriately. As you can imagine on a site with 65 + million members there are many reports each day and thousands of members banned each day. The work that goes on behind the scenes is not always seen and is only the tip of the ice berg. We genuinely aim to ensure the best experience for all our members.

There are many staff and volunteers dedicated to this and no were not perfect human beings, and no it would be unreasonable to think that we would get things right 100% of the time. 

However the work and dedication and management and finance that is put into the fight against abuse, fair play etc is extraordinary. 

When a report is made it is investigated and each situation may be treated slightly differently depending on circumstances but in general here is how the approach is taken: https://support.chess.com/article/780-what-happens-to-accounts-that-are-violating-community-policies

Extreme cases are dealt with and in these extreme cases accounts are closed immediately. This is up to the discretion of chess.com how it is dealt with and in order to protect the data of the reported user we don't go into specifics about the action taken. 

Please be assured that each report is investigated and repeat offenders are dealt with more harshly. 

Sometimes however a member may have a bad day, or perhaps they have gone through a really difficult period in their life. It's not an excuse to break terms of service or to treat people in a bad way. However we do all go through difficult times so we don't always want to be quick to jump on the gun and look for a ban. For instance public accusations or shaming is a breach of TOS and this has happened twice already in this forum post, yet one would feel hard done by if an account was closed straight away without warning for that.

At the end of the day chess.com is a privately owned site that works incredibly hard to make the best experience possible here. Please do report a user when you see a person that is acting abusively and then ensure you use the block feature. This is a feature many use effectively however many forget to use this feature or if not using it show they aren't concerned with resolving the issue and moving forward. If someone is abusive to us in the street we don't stand there, we walk away. View the block feature as walking away and report the user so if there is further abuse there is a record and action can be taken.

It's going to be impossible to please everyone, we get that but we always strive to find the balance to be as fair as possible but also to ensure that those that are abusive have action taken against them.

I hope my comment helps address some of your concerns, and if you do have any particular suggestions please do feel free to let us know so that we can constantly keep improving, you can let us know of your suggestion here: 

https://support.chess.com/article/295-how-do-i-report-a-bug-or-make-a-suggestion

Of course we would love to see you stay as a member here and appreciate your positive contributions toward the community

Kind Regards

KB

KB,

I'm afraid you answer is inadequate. Are you really saying I should tolerate racist and misogynist abuse because the abuser 'might have had a bad day'? No, racism and misogyny CANNOT be tolerated! It should not be tolerated! And you should 100% close accounts that abuse in such a way. It is my duty to call out racism and misogyny. I am anti-racist and anti-misogynist and I am right to be that way. As I said - it is my duty! It should be chess.com's duty too. But clearly you disagree!

And note, I did not 'accuse'. I simple pasted the racist and misogynist comments for all to see to try to kickstart chess.com into action. This was not an 'accusation' but an actual item of abuse aimed at me. Note also, that each time this user abused me I reported it to chess.com, each time I received the standard response, and each time the user went on to abuse me the next day (it should not be incumbent on me to block the user, I do not want to hide from this kind of abuse, I want to call it out for what it is!

Therefore, I no longer want to play chess.com as it is a site that allows racism and misogyny. Please refund my latest payment, made only 1 week ago, and close my account. 

Regards,

LeaMnum

Hi @LeaMnum,

Please contact https://support.chess.com for assistance with your request.

Thanks

Regards

KB