No Confirmation of Abuse Reports

In the past, when I used the abuse form, I would receive an automated email saying that my report was received, and to expect a response within a week or so. Then a staff member would follow up with me to ask questions or let me know that the issue has been dealt with. I really appreciated that, because it made staff feel accessible and I knew that I was being helpful and the site was getting cleaned up.

A few weeks ago, however, there was a change, such that it says to not expect any response unless there are follow up questions. There are no automated confirmation messages, and I never hear back from staff to let me know that the issue is resolved. It gives me no confidence that the reports are being seen or dealt with. It feels like I’m sending messages to a mailbox that I have no idea if anyone checks.

My request is to put things back to how they were, for the reasons stated above. Thanks!

Additionally, when using the “Report Comment” feature with the little ❗️ icon, there used to be a banner which appeared at the top of the screen saying “Comment Successfully Reported” or something like that. Now, that banner doesn’t show up anymore.

hmm, the banner and automated confirmation at least should come back.

and the person asking questions would be nice too, though I suppose chess.com is pretty busy rn

Unless you reported with an actual ticket, I don't believe there has been any kind of follow-up for a long time.

I did report with an actual ticket, using this link:

https://abuse-report.paperform.co/

I haven’t had any follow-ups for the last month or so.

I've reported many extremely abusive and inappropriate people in the live game chat in the past, but most of the time nothing is done about it and I think the problem is Chess.com has no proof to ban them because as far as I'm aware everything written in the live chat is deleted after the game. Either that or they get too many reports to handle and don't review half of them. Or they're just biased.

My observation on reporting various issues on Chess.com, is that there are too many ways to report. As @Green_Sleeves suggested, the response mechanism could use a little refinement to at least ensure the reporter that their message was received.

There are also many ways to "report" issues at Chess.com:

• Beta Club Forums – I see many people reporting all kinds of issues on the Beta Clubs Forums. You often take those reports, respond to the user, tell the Club that the issue is "known", or that you will forward the issue upstream for someone to address
• Site Feedback - Chess.com – This area is located in the main Forums pages. Users post all kinds of complaints, suggestions, or abuse here. There is usually a lot of discussion around these posts, but very rarely is there an "official" response from anyone besides @Martin_Stahl.
• Chess.com (Help & Support Forum) – Similar to "Site Feedback", I see comments from users on a number of issues. I'm not certain that you average users knows which of these two Forums is most appropriate for specific issues. Additionally, the same lack of an official response is problematic for many users.
• Member Support Form – I didn't know this form/link existed until recently. I'm not even sure how I found it, but it does not feel like it is in a prominent place. How does this link differ from all of the other reporting methods and areas?
• Report Abuse – This link is found on the Main Menu underneath the bold ? (question mark). This link does not actually take the user to a page where they can make a report, but instead to another menu page with ten other items that the user must navigate.
• Make a Suggestion – This link is found in the FAQ area, but the actual reporting form is found on the Main Menu underneath the bold ? (question mark). When the pop-up window is presented to the user, there is reporting area for an email address, text area for the user's concern, a way to take screen video, and some other options on the left side that I have yet to figure out how to use. I have not been able to find a way to upload a screen shot here.
• Report a Bug – This appears to be the same as "Make a Suggestion". I have yet to figure out how to use. I have not been able to find a way to upload a screen shot here.
• support@chess.com – Then there's this.
• Super Admins, Admins, and Moderators – Some of these folks are known and listed in various clubs and forums. Most do not have anything attached to their profile bio or picture that might indicate they are a Chess.com representative. Some of these folks reply to public messages, but most do not. Some of these folks reply to private messages, but most do not.
• "Block" button – This button is buried underneath the already obscure (!) Report button or the "Menu" drop-down menu.
• "Report" button - This button can only be found if the user clicks on another users screen name. The grey (!) exclamation mark does not really jump-out at the user to click on that icon to make a report. No text is associated with this button until the user accidentally hovers over the icon. Clicking on this button delivers a pop-up menu with a bunch of options to select. Only one of those options allows the user to include any text, and none of the options allows the user to upload a screen-shot.
• "More" drop-down menu - This can only be found after clicking on the user profile, bypassing the "report" icon, and then clicking on the drop-down menu where the user will find another "report" button.
• "Urgent Report" - This is another reporting method that I found by accident while perusing the FAQ area on Chess.com. The actual form is located at the bottom of the screen; quickly runs out of space for a detailed description; and uploading of any screen shots make the "submit" button vanish from the page.

I consider myself fairly detailed oriented, but these reporting methods are scattered all over the place. Different screens. Different reporting methods. Different information requested. Some have screen confirmation, while others do not. Some provide automated replies, while others do not. Some users receive persona replies, while others do not.

There should be ONE button on every page that presents the user with a master reporting page to report any issue of any kind. All of the offices, links, people... however Chess.com wants to categorize these entities... should be one ONE page and NOT scattered, hidden, or buried underneath multiple pages, links and drop-down windows.

Until the reporting issue is addressed and resolved, users will continue to submit their reports to the wrong person, forum, page, or link – or not at all because they gave-up in frustration.

I found out that by manually emailing support@chess.com, you can get the automated confirmation message and a response from a staff member.

Yes, many users are reporting that this method works better than the "best" advertised method at Chess.com. Do what works, right?

What works best will depend on what you want in return. If you need a response, a ticket to support is the solution. However, for some things you'll likely get a thanks and additional response will depend on the report.

If the support staff can directly assist, they will. If it's a bug or suggestion, they'll likely let you know they have referred it to the devs, it's already know, or in some instances maybe that's not something planned. If it's referred to devs, they will open a ticket just like gets done via the menu options.

So yes, you'll get some kind of response

When you say “ticket,” do you mean an email or a submission on the Abuse Form? I know that a few weeks ago, I submitted a report on the Abuse Form about a spammer, and no action was taken. Then two days ago I reported the spammer again by email, and today action was taken.

I mean email or some of the options on the Contact form. I'm not sure every option on the latter gets a response.

Screen shots of the abuse seems like a complete waste of time. Quality vs Quantity but that affects the total member count.