Another one bites the dust.

Seriously.. Imagine for a moment what it's like for Erik to have to deal with the mental illness on display here daily.. and I'm not talking about kids posting nudie avatars. There are folks here with such delusions of grandeur they've actually fashioned themselves as warriors coming to the rescue of children all over the world from the evils of sexual abuse by ranting about an inappropriate avatar in a chess chatroom. Why Erik doesn't shut this sandbox down is beyond me.

great suggestion, i think these forums are a breeding ground for nastiness and should be eliminated entirely.

The forums are one of the best things about chess.com. Stop.

Definitely in favor of shutting the forums and chat room down and making the site pay only.

The community that used to exist here was once the single best thing about the site.  Shutting down the forums because a number of miscreants and vandals have been actively working to erode it would be nothing short of tragic.  Cutting off your nose to spite your face as it were.

Chess.com needs to find a way to promote the positive aspects of the community and downplay or eliminate the destructive contributions.

The forums and chat community is a part of what makes the site superior for me to ICC or Chesscube. I love the interactive community with other players, as well as the videos for paying members. Making the site pay only would be a spit in the face to all of it's members that have played here for years for free. Forcing people to pay money to play on the biggest chess website in the world would reflect badly on the character of those in charge. They already make great profit with making the extra features pay only.

RJC is gone and now y'all want to close the forums????? Crazy people!

You've only had your account for four days Who were you before?

Yeah, if there's one thing he was known for it was keeping his cards close to his chest.

Why do people who claim to want the forums eliminated frequent them?

For the same reason people "offended" by racy images repost them?

It's probably like the odd "goodbye" threads, where people say goodbye for months

Turns out they just wanted to have everyone tell them how missed they would be.  All of the social benefit with none of the risk.

This site has only been around for 7½ years.

Atos? He had the Vatican flag, too?

Wow. A member here since 3 years before it opened.  Is that like doing your Christmas shopping in the summer?

Haven't you ever see "Going out of Business Sale" signs on the same storefront for years?

Oh, I hadn't noticed!