I'm here to tell you a sad story.
My friend was playing here for about 2 years, and suddenly noticed he cannot post to "Questions and answers". Feeling this is a bug, he posted a comment on the forum, but, surprisingly, nobody answered. Second post - with the same result. After a week or so he discovered why: his posts were invisible to everyone except him! So he realized probably he is banned (well, in such a funny way). But for what reason? He never posted to "Questions and answers", and don't post to forum for a long while, so it was really hard to guess. He tried to ask a mod via private messages - no reply. Maybe messages were blocked in the same way. Wrote to contact@lichess.org, twice - no reply.
So I wish to ask, is this really a lichess policy, to ban for nothing, not to say without a warning - without an explanation and a notification, without an ability to know the reason?
If so, I seriosly doubt lichess is "as free as in freedom". Rather it is as free as USSR in 1937...
It's called shadowbanning.
It is indeed very sad that Lichess resorts to this shady, underhanded behaviour.
Shadowbanning should have no place on Lichess and moderators should be held responsible and fully disclose their reasoning for banning someone. I wonder how many people have been unjustly banned by a power-tripping mod and the mod receiving no discipline for it.
Sounds like he's been muted for inappropriate behavior. From my experience, mods are very reasonable people. Shoot them an email and wait a few days. If you don't get a reply, most likely there's no reason to reply, or the email got caught in a spam filter. I'm not necessarily for shadow-banning, but it makes sense. If it's manageable and there's basis for issuing a warning before a ban, that would be much better than getting rid of shadow-bans completely, but this too would most likely pose a problem. I see it as one of the more effective ways of delaying perpetrators from simply making new accounts - rinse and repeat. At any rate, comparing lichess to USSR and assuming our volunteering mods go on power-trips has no basis and won't lead to a constructive conversation. Are you appealing that specific case or raising the supposed issue of shadow-banning?
What was his inappropriate behaviour? He might not find out. A member of two years, doesn't sound like just some troll. Maybe he was drunk and made a bad joke. Maybe a mod thought he wrote too many comments.
At any rate, it doesn't sound like he was deserving of a any type of ban. Give him a warning and mute him for a day, then go from there.
Do you think mods are above abusing their powers? No, they're all humans. Who moderates the moderators?
I've had an account shadowbanned on Lichess once before. And I could not figure out what I did that was so wrong. What else is there but to assume that a mod was having a bad day?
Will this post get me shadowbanned?
If I am shadowbanned, what is the best course of action to inquire about it?
(If I stop replying to this thread without stating that I won't reply, I am shadowbanned.)
#1
That seems strange, though I think there probably was a reason. However, (not that I want to question the moderators' judgements, I trust their decisions) a warning should be given. How hard is it to write a short message to the user being banned stating why they were banned? If I were banned I'd like to know why.
Also why has there been no reply to two emails? If they weren't seen or were ignored, your friend should keep sending them, he deserves an explanation for his ban.
I don’t know the concrete case. But as a mod (not here) I can tell that normally warnings are given but people try to discuss the measures and/or ignore them. In their memory it remains as „no warning received“ forever and so they tell the world.
Sorry for being a bit harsh but this is the ubiquitous scenario. It might be different in your single case.
PS: ...and it is always „a friend“ who has „nothing“ done.
As another former mod (not here), I second what
@Sarg0n writes.
People getting banned tend to clutch any straw available. Like complaining that "mails didn't get answered" (mere 2 hours after said mails have been sent), telling friends that they "never did anything wrong and have absolutely no idea why they were banned" (when they clearly know why) or that they "didn't get any warning" (which they got) and accusing mods of unchecked despotism (while it's common practice that *other* mods can see what a mod does, and they will rarely approve misuse of mod powers).
On the other side, mods/support staff will sometimes ignore complaints which are full of insults (comparing them to Stalin might do). Which isn't entirely correct on their part... but you know, not impossible to avoid by the banned guy. I have not seen a case yet where a truly polite mail went unanswered (and I have wrote quite some support mails during my "internet career").
Right. Usually there‘s internal part of the forum and mods create their own threads to discuss the troublemakers. One mod bans finally but all are informed and all are backed-up by the admins. Sure, you can complain.
Shadowbanning is disgusting. It should not be technically possible. When someone is banned from forums and QnA and tries to post, they shouln't be just invisible and think "oh why nobody's answering", they should get a large notification like "you cannot post because reasons". And they should get a notification about the ban when they are banned. Is it not right? How do you make a system where a user is not aware that he is banned?
