Alarming Amount of Trolls on Chess.com

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evanmpaul

We've all seen the good and bad of chess on here before. Someone premoving the last 20 moves in a bullet game for them to win on time when you're in a difficult position. Hikaru trolling now and then with a pawn or knight checkmate. But it seems like we're in such a space where the etiquette of chess is declining. I don't want to gatekeep chess and am glad it has been made more accessible, but it seems one or two happenings of Hikaru trolling a friend have turned into a toxic revolution for the sport. Flagging an opponent is part of the rules of the game and if you cannot mate then it is not a win. I get that, that's not what I'm talking about. But someone having mate in one for 30 moves and waiting until 5 seconds left to checkmate with 8 queens is absurdly toxic. And you may say "Well Hikaru does it" or "Levy does it" and that is because either they are making youtube videos or joking with people they have played with for years. You beating down a 500 in an unrated match is not "trolling for the fun of it", you just wish to be toxic. I think similarly the sandbaggers who wait until the auto resign of a game to make a move are absurd too. Chess.com should be fostering a community of people who want to play chess and get better at it. It is slowly turning into a community of people trying to infuriate others. I firmly believe, especially in shorter games, that auto resigns should be within 5 seconds. I also firmly believe that if you have below M5 and take more than 15 moves after promoting a piece (all while under M5), you should lose rating points. Let's not make a farce of this sport. I have been on here for 5 years and it has never been this bad. It's not like I'm a beginner either, I have strong ratings across all time controls, and this is still happening. I cannot imagine what it would be like for a newcomer to chess to come on with a low rating and just be absolutely demoralized by a sandbagger. After enough times, they probably wouldn't want to play anymore. We need to do better as a community. If you want to climb the ladder trying a Botez Gambit, okay, at least make sure they are willing participants. If you want to troll someone with 8 queens, do it with one of your friends. If you want to play a 5 minute to 1 minute time control match, let them know you're doing that. But play chess to make yourself better and not because you want to make people feel bad. I sincerely hope chess.com mods read this and agree

spicychickenboba

Suggestion: break up your posts into paragraphs, as it's more readable that way.
Regarding the checkmating with 8 queens -- I get you, I only do that kind of stuff if I've messaged the opponent and they are okay with it. But I also think it's their freedom to do that if they want. If you don't want to be checkmated in that ludicrous manner, then I recommend the resign option, ending the game immediately.
I think 5 seconds is too short for auto-resign. (And I am a bullet player, see how many 1-minute games I have.) Sometimes the position genuinely requires thought (and yeah those games I often lose because my position tends to be bad, but.....probably not always).
I don't know about the M5 suggestion....I watched a friend rated about 1000 who had mate in 1. It was an obvious mating attack. I remember the mate taking a while, like 10 moves or something. Maybe that's not that extreme, but regardless I question the wisdom of such a rule being implemented.
Regarding people who play much lower-rated players in unrated games -- sure, some people may not have best intentions, but both sides indicate which rating ranges they are willing to play. Sometimes people seek open range because it's easier to get a game that way, especially as the quantity of unrated players drops off when you go up. On the other hand, many people like gaining the experience of playing higher-rated players, so they may choose to have their upper limit set to infinity.