Problems with blocked players - Why are they allowed to watch my games and write comments to me?

OP is correct.

Blocked stalkers shouldn't be able to comment on the Analysis board. It's a loop hole and it needs fixing.

Simple as that.

Banned players should not be allowed to comment on games yes but blocked players are not banned by staff.
What if two players meet and one of them blocks the other ones friend? Are they not allowed to spectate their friends games because someone else does not like them?
I see some potential for abuse here.
Also blocking players does not do much on a site like Lichess since a new account can be created in a few minutes.
We need another solution I think

We need some kind of personal shadowban then: let's say player X which has player Y in the blocklist won't see any comments from player Y or his spectating.
Thus the player Y rights won't be broken as well as mental health of player X.

You cannot block people from spectating your games over-the-board. As long as they behave organizers won't be able to expell them from the tournament area either.

Similarly here. Block functionality prevents the direct challenges and direct messages, it does not prevent them from saying something in the public chat or you being paired with them in a tournament.

Obviously any type of harassment needs to be reported to Lichess. And I can assure you, swift actions will follow.

@QueenRosieMary said in #10:

Dear QueenRosieMary,

with this I, full of heart, thank you for your last comment.

I have also experienced this problem with three users whom I had blocked for various reasons (one was spamming me constantly, one was harassing me and bizarrely dm me during a classical game and offered to "help me win" which I found horrifying and blocked and reported him straight away, and one was asking me for money and my phone number if I recall correctly). Different people from the 3 previously mentioned.

They were watching my games after I blocked them, and some comments were made in the game chat and also public arena chat to try to communicate with me, despite me saying clearly that I didn't want to talk to them.

Oh, yes, horrible. What happened to you with them, this is exactly what I mean. It brings you to bad feelings, but they can go on doing this to you.

In one case, the blocked individual taunted me in the public arena chat after an especially brutal defeat (they are rated 500 points higher than me so not unexpected). "Did you love that queen?" which maybe looks innocuous on the surface if you don't know the context. If a friend had said something similar to me in that situation I would not have minded at all, but then friends have roasting rights! I am considering not playing in these (variant) arenas anymore as you encounter the same players.

Hmmm, very ugly behaviour too. That is bad. :(

In your case, I don't know, but obviously, that is not a welcome communication from them and I can see why you felt deeply uncomfortable about it. I have been asked the same question in a public arena chat and also in dm before I blocked them. In my case, the three guys I mentioned before got a communications ban, and shortly afterwards I noticed their accounts were closed (not sure whether by them or Lichess.) In two out of the three cases, they came back again with a new account and continued their behaviour, and those new accounts also got closed.

For me one day, I saw no other solution to close my own profile, but because of my chess friend, I play often with, I was easy to find again with my new profile.

I don't know the answer to this problem, except to agree with @Cedur216 that if it is abusive you should report it. When users that you have blocked for whatever reason start watching your games, and commenting to you in your game spectator room and in arena chats, it certainly feels like stalking and is not pleasant. Wishing you all the best in getting this resolved so you feel safe xxx

Thank you so much.

This here I wrote, because for me, reporting is not the onliest solution. I want Lichess to fix the problem, that blocked persons can bother us.

I am sure there is a script solution, because other websides not cause problems like this.

Greetings
Sof

@RickRenegade said in #11:

OP is correct.

Blocked stalkers shouldn't be able to comment on the Analysis board. It's a loop hole and it needs fixing.

Simple as that.

Yes, my opinion too.

@Maestro230 said in #12:

Banned players should not be allowed to comment on games yes but blocked players are not banned by staff.
What if two players meet and one of them blocks the other ones friend? Are they not allowed to spectate their friends games because someone else does not like them?
I see some potential for abuse here.
Also blocking players does not do much on a site like Lichess since a new account can be created in a few minutes.
We need another solution I think

Hi,

thank you for your comment.

"What if two players meet and one of them blocks the other ones friend? Are they not allowed to spectate their friends games because someone else does not like them?"

(I would write it more pure: If they abused for example in a sexual way other players, they then blocked them.)

This is an interesting question!

• Maybe the solution could be, that blocked can watch, but the person, who blocked gets no display of their names. This would not be a perfect solution, but maybe a better solution than having no solution.

Comments of blocked persons ... could also not be displayed to the person who blocked.

@VelociraptorRex said in #13:

We need some kind of personal shadowban then: let's say player X which has player Y in the blocklist won't see any comments from player Y or his spectating.
Thus the player Y rights won't be broken as well as mental health of player X.

Hiii,

ohhh, yes.
This for me sounds perfect.

Before I read this, I have had a similar idea, but without thinking about the blocklists. - I guess there are not too complicated script changing possibilities for general options of blocklists. :)

...

Thank you for giving this hint.

@Sofia-Mary said in #15:

They were watching my games after I blocked them, and some comments were made in the game chat and also public arena chat to >try to communicate with me, despite me saying clearly that I didn't want to talk to them.

Also I forgot to add, after this episode, I was a bit stressed, so I played a casual match with a friend to try to unwind. Then in the middle of our match, my friend asked me "who is this guy who is watching all our games?" He was also messaging my opponent repeatedly during our games to ask her (to ask me) to message him and to play a game with him. So he was bothering her because he couldn't message me directly. This was pretty annoying but I don't think I reported it at the time, because I didn't think someone messaging someone else to say "can you tell your friend to message me I want to play a game with her" would be viewed as harassment even though it felt like it to me at the time given the context.

For me one day, I saw no other solution to close my own profile, but because of my chess friend, I play often with, I was easy to find >again with my new profile.

This is so sad, I'm sure you aren't the only one to have felt you had to close your account after this sort of thing.

I have often felt like making an alt with a gender-neutral username just to avoid harassment. I know some other female users who have felt this way as well. It is the downside of choosing to be openly female with our username. The plus side I think is to be more visible as a female to encourage other females that they are not alone in a very male-dominated site and sport.

@bufferunderrun said in #14:

You cannot block people from spectating your games over-the-board. As long as they behave organizers won't be able to expell them from the tournament area either.

Hmmmmm. Not yet, but maybe, there is a soultion too one day.