Massive spam in the blogroll

I've come to the sad conclusion that there's little point in trying to blog here, as every day there's more and more "people" posting advertisements that have nothing to do with chess.  Not only are these advertisments generally fraudulent, but they also blot out whatever actual chess players may be writing about actual chess related topics.

If chess.com wants to be taken seriously as a chess site and not as yet another hub for internet scamming, it should deal with this issue as soon as possible.

Can you say hyperbole?

It's hardly hyperbole. The blog list looks like USENET from 1999.  It's unprofessional and negatively impacts the site and its members.  If you want to shrug and do nothing, fine, but if that's the attitude of chess.com, it suggests to me that this site is perhaps still too "Yahoo-ish" to successfully compete with ICC or Playchess for strong players.

So... that one blog you posted 4 hours ago with no comments will be your last?

Depends on if the spam is cleaned up or not.  If it continues like this, I don't see the point of trying to contribute much more to the site.

You mean if it continues with nobody responding to your blog posts?

Sorry, perhaps I'm missing something, but what does people responding to my blog post have to do with this?  My issue is with rampant spam, not comments.

Wait, where does all the spam come from then?  Who's posting it?  Is this something to do with my being a premium member who doesn't get advertisements?

Not being a premium member, I wouldn't know, but I assume the spammy blogs show up for everyone.  This is, mind you, a separate issue from the "normal" advertisements that non-paying members see.

I don't think so, I think it's about the furniture and dieting ads contained within the blogs found here:

http://www.chess.com/blog/

Oooh, so you're talking about other people's non-chess bogs?  I can see that.  Perhaps the site could use the 'off-topic' standard for blogs as in forums.

There's little reason to think the people blogging about discount furniture and dieting pills would adhere to such a system.  Wouldn't the simplest solution be for the moderators to look at the blogs once in awhile and trim the spam?  It's not as if the ads are at all subtle or even attempting to mention chess in any way.

Yeah, I didn't mean the poster would choose it, but that they'd be moderated.  People posting junk under false pretences could be blocked from doing so again.  I suppose staff has a lot of things to do and they can't prioritize it.

I'm sure the chess.com staff has much to do, but surely this would be one of the easiest of all possible tasks for them - there aren't that many blogs each day, and the spam is obvious.  Simply delete them and perhaps (as you suggested) ban the offending accounts.

users posting advertising in the 'chess blogs' area have their posts removed as soon as staff notices it.

if you folks would simply click on 'help and support' and message the staff, that will take care of it.

some site moderators browse the blogs and forums and notice your posts, and remove the advertising junk as quickly as possible as well.

regards,

site moderator

Sorry, but how do I "simply click on help and support"?  After searching for some time for a way to message support I eventually settled on this forum, especially as the FAQ says "If you are unable to get help in the forums or FAQs then contact our Support Team." If there's some other, better, way to reach the moderators here, it's not listed anywhere in the top menu area.

In any event, the spam have been piling up for days without any apparent moderation.  How often does chess.com browse blog postings?  Given that the purpose of writing a blog here is to reach a specific chess-oriented audience and that spam can quickly shunt a post off the listings, it does little good to remove the spam several days after the fact.

Help & Support is at the bottom of the page.

When I look at the list of blogs here I see 2 spam, one dude introducing himself (he likes avionics and long walks along the beach, ladies), two I can't read, 2 or so that are off topic but of interest to some people (one of them is about music) and the rest is about chess.

I don't see a real problem that needs to any kind of big fix.

No doubt that RetGuvvie98 just cleaned house, there was plenty an hour ago.

Coincidentally, it's just been tidied.