This is not a new issue on lichess, but it's one that remains unresolved.
When using the forums, there is a lot of confusion on what is or is not appropriate language. It is pretty clear that you can't unleash a profanity-laden tirade insulting another user, nor accuse them of cheating. Beyond that, there is little to no guidance on what constitutes inappropriate language.
Recently, I made a forum post in which I referred to a certain Russian leader with a compound expletive to show my contempt for his actions. A little later, I found my post, along with around 10 other posts in the thread, were deleted, along with a warning from lichess informing me that the post was deleted for "inappropriate behavior".
Before anyone jumps to conclusions, I do not believe that the deletion of said post was politically motivated. I suspect it was a well-intentioned yet overzealous moderator who deleted the post purely because it had "swear words". Of course, not being a moderator on this site, this is pure speculation.
This brings me to my point: I shouldn't HAVE to speculate as to why my post was deleted. There's an apparent disconnect between what lichess users know about the site rules and what the moderators enforce, which is an obvious problem. The best parallel I can think of is the card game "Mao" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_(card_game)), where players who don't know the rules are penalized for not following the rules.
Since lichess seeks to promote a welcoming, positive environment, I think it would be a good idea to clarify the boundaries of said environment. I propose two actions which may help:
(1) To aid in general awareness of behavioral rules, share whatever instructions are given to moderators to guide them in their duties as they pertain to communications.
(2) Require a short description in the warning communique, if said communique is generated, when a moderator takes action against a user account. I assume that literally every deleted post, chatban, and communications-related warning stems from "inappropriate behavior". Why was the message inappropriate, though? A warning is useless if it doesn't effectively warn against anything.
PS: To the moderator who took action on that post:
Deleting double-digit posts from multiple authors, keeping two, and closing the thread-- as was done with lichess.org/forum/off-topic-discussion/putin-will-undergo-cancer-surgery -- is probably not a good idea if you are trying to promote a positive environment. If it gets to the point where you are deleting four or five times as many posts as you keep, just delete the whole thread. Otherwise, you'll probably end up with a bunch of people claiming you're silencing them for political reasons.
When using the forums, there is a lot of confusion on what is or is not appropriate language. It is pretty clear that you can't unleash a profanity-laden tirade insulting another user, nor accuse them of cheating. Beyond that, there is little to no guidance on what constitutes inappropriate language.
Recently, I made a forum post in which I referred to a certain Russian leader with a compound expletive to show my contempt for his actions. A little later, I found my post, along with around 10 other posts in the thread, were deleted, along with a warning from lichess informing me that the post was deleted for "inappropriate behavior".
Before anyone jumps to conclusions, I do not believe that the deletion of said post was politically motivated. I suspect it was a well-intentioned yet overzealous moderator who deleted the post purely because it had "swear words". Of course, not being a moderator on this site, this is pure speculation.
This brings me to my point: I shouldn't HAVE to speculate as to why my post was deleted. There's an apparent disconnect between what lichess users know about the site rules and what the moderators enforce, which is an obvious problem. The best parallel I can think of is the card game "Mao" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mao_(card_game)), where players who don't know the rules are penalized for not following the rules.
Since lichess seeks to promote a welcoming, positive environment, I think it would be a good idea to clarify the boundaries of said environment. I propose two actions which may help:
(1) To aid in general awareness of behavioral rules, share whatever instructions are given to moderators to guide them in their duties as they pertain to communications.
(2) Require a short description in the warning communique, if said communique is generated, when a moderator takes action against a user account. I assume that literally every deleted post, chatban, and communications-related warning stems from "inappropriate behavior". Why was the message inappropriate, though? A warning is useless if it doesn't effectively warn against anything.
PS: To the moderator who took action on that post:
Deleting double-digit posts from multiple authors, keeping two, and closing the thread-- as was done with lichess.org/forum/off-topic-discussion/putin-will-undergo-cancer-surgery -- is probably not a good idea if you are trying to promote a positive environment. If it gets to the point where you are deleting four or five times as many posts as you keep, just delete the whole thread. Otherwise, you'll probably end up with a bunch of people claiming you're silencing them for political reasons.
