[...] How can I tell whether a "STAFF" member is a Moderator or some other Chess.com personel?
Alas, no way to tell the difference in V2.
In V3, staff members have a green pawn icon displayed next to their usernames, and moderators have a blue pawn icon.
Some moderators remind me of "Barney Fife".
Some moderators remind me of "Barney Fife".
Im sure its an unpaid volunteer job, and the only feedback they get is what they are doing wrong. I can understand if they get short at times.
Interesting thread.
If it is merely interesting, that is fine, but it does have its serious side.
--- Interesting post.
V3 only took me 10 minutes to get here. This will make the thread even more interesting. Hope I will get here quicker next time.
Ok - now, does Chess.com have a Policy towards the actions of its Moderators?
Are they just handed free reign to Lock up a thread as they deem so with impunity?
I've seen some extremely flimsy excuses given of late to lock up several threads by numerous Moderators.
Well, Spacey, no matter when all is washed up.
They will never listen to us. Time will tell who is right.
The only decision for me is to hang around until I find something better, if indeed the Internet has any good sites left.
At least I can still play a few games of bullet and blitz here, in spite of the fact that I am too slow.
TT is not what it was, as we only have angine ( stet! ) doing the analysis.
And the trolling has become intolerable.
Arcade kids, all!
It is no shock to me that the Staff have circled the wagons.
So, would any official member of the Chess.com STAFF care to respond to the original questions I posed earlier?
Has chess.com altered its policies towards Users expressing dissatisfaction towards the site? Does such dissatisfaction warrant LOCKING of threads & / or openly naming & labeling users of being uncompromising and hard headed?
When did Moderators begin using the term "Chess.com feels .. " as a point of position in arguments? Do all Moderators now speak for Chess.com?
Chess.com has not altered polices toward expressing dissatisfaction toward the site. In fact, those troubles and dissatisfaction being expressed have lead to a great number of new features and recoding to improve Chess.com. This site wouldn't be what it is without members taking the time to have a frank open discussion about the issues they are having with the site.
I would recommend to those having trouble you make use of the "make a suggestion" or "Report a bug" features from the help menu:
When you use those features it automatically includes data about the browser being used and how you are connecting to the site as well as logs a screenshot in some cases. Having that extra information is simply amazing when we are working to trouble shoot any bugs that you may come across!
Mods do represent Chess.com and always have. They work very hard to approach each topic from the point of view of Chess.com rather than their own personal perspective. It's very difficult to put yourself aside and act on behalf of another entity and I applaud the moderators' efforts to do that.
One thing worth expanding upon: the screenshot that JD mentioned above is just the screenshot of the chess.com's window content, not the entire screen. I've seen some misunderstandings regarding what is exactly being captured, and the message being displayed is definitely imprecise (this is not the fault of chess.com, but of the tool being used, which comes from https://usersnap.com)
[...] When did Moderators begin using the term "Chess.com feels .. " as a point of position in arguments? [...]
This is a question easily answered without a need for authoritative answer from staff -- a search for:
"Chess.com feels" site:chess.com
indicates that there are about 30 occurrences of that phrase in all public pages indexed by Google, and, of these, exactly one time when that phrase was used by a staff member (earlier in this very thread), and zero times when it was used by a plain moderator such as myself.
At least this is all I found. If I made a mistake in counting, feel free to correct me...
[...] LPS followed with another warning / threat that any all words from Users can & may be used against us at a later date pending a STAFF meeting. [...]
I assure you that there was no intended threat or warning in what I wrote. I simply used my records to recall the actual facts as they transpired over a year and a half years ago.
Also, as a general rule, there is no need to read between the lines in any of my posts or to find any hidden implications -- I always try to express exactly what I mean. English is my second language, so I may mis-state something now and then, but am perfectly willing to clarify and/or correct myself, if needed.
Chess.com has not altered polices toward expressing dissatisfaction toward the site.
Mods do represent Chess.com and always have. They work very hard to approach each topic from the point of view of Chess.com rather than their own personal perspective. It's very difficult to put yourself aside and act on behalf of another entity and I applaud the moderators' efforts to do that.
Well, this is good and not-so-good. You see, you have moderators who will quickly table any/all threads in forums they deem inappropriate to the sanctity of chess.com from "Site Feedback & Suggestions" to "Off Topic". And from there, one can almost watch the clock as to how soon it will be 'Locked' for a whimsical reason.
@JD - you and Erik have both expressed your openness to feedback from the clients here. Yet, uncountable are the times I've been asked or suggested or told out-right by those with "STAFF" symbols (its difficult to discern between Moderator and true STAFF in v2) next to their names that I am -
So, which is it?
David here has threatened users (myself included) with action, he did not say specifically what that meant, but it was a threat. (https://www.chess.com/forum/view/community/stop-locking-forums?page=4 -- quote #74) <-- Sorry, I know this is in v2-terms.
David, CrystalMoon, Tyler, and other Moderators here have all 'Locked' threads for simple indiscretions by others. I would implore you to unlock the thread https://www.chess.com/forum/view/suggestions/express-if-you-like-or-do-not-like-the-new-version-of-the-site it was the main thread we all could use to reflect on our various issues with v3 until Tyler decided to up and table the discussion entirely.
I might add Tyler echo'd your exact sentiments above saying, "Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. We look forward to any further ones you have" ... and then summarily LOCKED the thread permanently.
If Moderators truly do speak for Chess.com, then we have come to a head. Many Moderators feel that what I and others do in the forums is inappropriate and warrants "action" if I do not abate.
Bux, I have detected that your very direct, and most times, deadly accurate criticisms are having some effect. But only in the last few days. Perhaps, chess.com are waking up to the extent of discontent.
If it were only you, me and a few other brave souls, we would not be seeing a slightly more accommodating tone entering things.
I removed Erik from my friends list the other day, and now wonder whether, in the light of a couple of recents comments by him, I should have. But my attitude, if contrary at times, was not personal. If chess.com had never been good, why would I bother? I would just walk away!
If they are sincere, could I suggest to you that you take the pressure off a bit while they are in what appears to be a conciliatory mood?
I will grant also that lately, some of the worst features of V3 seem to have abated.
Perhaps, my friend, not all is lost.
@Camter, I'm not sure I read the same conciliatory sentiments in JDCannon's post. While I am pleased to see that JDCannon took time to write in this thread, he really didn't say anything new, let alone conciliatory in nature.
The whole last paragraph in his post was recounting how tough it is to be a Moderator at chess.com. Hardly a refutation of recent overreach of Moderator dictatorialism.
I suspect, ... I believe, ... chess.com will only alter policies and programming if & when it $uits them, not the users. For nearly two years, I've been beating the But-Wait-A-Minute drum only to be chastised, waylaid, and impugned. I've not seen a whole lot in the realm of appreciation other than a few notes from Erik himself. The rest has been condescension and patronization on parade. Forgive me if I come off as bitter about the whole ordeal.
Amok is an interesting word in that unusually it has transferred into the Englush language, via Portuguese, from Malay rather than the usual French, Germanic or Latin. 'Meng-âmuk' roughly translates as 'making a furious charge' and originates in a behaviour specific to Malay culture whereby an individual, usually a young man, would suddenly and violently attack objects and people around them having previously been peaceably inclined. Thus for many years Amok was defined as a specific psychological condition rather than its more colloquial use today.