The Site's Comment Filter

Can something be done to make some deletions from the site's list of filtered words? I have lost several long posts because of using a word that no person with a healthy mind would possibly find offensive in the context. This egregious filter is just one of many ways that the site shows contempt for its users. We're mostly adults here, and if I want to talk about my favorite author Philip K. D*ck, then I'm going to do it, and I'm not going to let this go until I get an apology from a staff member.

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/community/muted-for-typing-an-authors-name

That's not an apology, and you're not a staff member

To be fair, there is a fair amount of kids, especially on the social side. However, accounts are supposed to be monitored for children under 13, and I'd say 13 is old enough to handle the situation maturely, and if a word isn't targeted in a certain way, I think it should be fine.

No, it's not an apology. I just thought you would have fun and it would save time.

I did have fun. Thanks

It's pathetic for a website of this size to be so deeply involved with censorship. It really is condescending, and the more I think about it, the more it actually angers me. The site benefits immensely from their freedom to speak and do other things. They never could have gotten so big if it weren't for the relative freedom they have to operate under American law. Then, in order to protect their property, they impose censorship on their users. They never could have become a successful company if they had to operate under the kinds of conditions they impose on their users. They get to operate in a free, liberal environment and they use that liberty to create an authoritarian, censored environment for their users. Chess.com doesn't really treat its users as human beings with rights equal to theirs, but more like some kind of chattel or property to be tallied up and profited from.

It is a chess site.

Is that a fact? I hadn't noticed, D*ck Tracy.

It's not pathetic. It makes the site a little bit nicer.

They aren't deeply involved with censorship. They set up an auto content monitor 17 years ago and haven't really adjusted it much since.

It's not condescending. It asks us to be a little bit nicer.

It is a chess site. Why bring up non chess related topics on here

Something to do between games. Also, you might make a friend playing a game, and want to talk with them about something else while you're on the site.

I enjoy debating on what the best opening is, that's for sure. You can talk to friends using messaging or clubs. I don't really know why it's needed on public forums. I don't even like OTF existing in the first place, if you can understand, as I saw your dissing of OTF.

There's always the choice of choosing messages and/or clubs if wanted. Nobody's forcing you to participate in public forums, but it's more of an option to those who want it.

I sort of agree with you there. You see a lot of people saying "If you don't like it, don't look at it." I guess that's the most practical solution for an individual user, but my sense of injustice gets aroused when I see the rules either not being enforced, or being enforced unfairly. If the website wants to allow forums about diverse topics, drawing in more users, then they need to actually let debate take place there. This no politics and religion stuff, combined with a sensitive auto-mute bot, means these forums are just pretend. I understand that, but it bothers me to see people drawn into a system where they are exposed to malicious and manipulative content from other users, with no real recourse but to ignore it, because they will get muted if they call out other users' behaviors for what they really are.

Yeah OTF is full of people above you threads and so much unoriginal content. It's very unstimulating for anyone over 12.

I just feel that because Chess.com is a chess site, only chess debates should be on here. There are plenty of other sites for social interaction and debating others, this site should remove it's OTF and be only chess, or allow all discussions of any kinds, barring inappropriate language or content.

Can you send me examples of unfair rule enforcement? I am curious to see, as I personally have not seen any evidence of that, probably as I stick to primarily chess topics.

It would be hard to do without making allegations against specific users who I have reported many times, and who the site hasn't taken any action against. All I can say is that you can find numerous examples of verbal abuse in these two threads, which ostensibly aren't political or religious and should therefore not arouse the passions of anybody.

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/off-topic/global-warming---its-real-dummies

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/off-topic/the-science-of-evolution-no-politics-or-religion

Maybe if you are perceptive, you will be able to imagine how disingenuous users can leverage the site's rules against politics and religion in discussions about global warming (policies) and the origins of life to create mental distress in people who try to interact with them on those topics. It's pretty weak of the site, and people who participate in those discussions, to allow debate, but restrict what some, but not all, of the debaters are allowed to say.