I don't see any downsides to adding this, but here are my reasons for suggesting it:
1. Most important of all the blog posts often contain spoilers of recent titled arenas. This appears on the front page of both the website and the app. Some people cannot watch events live and prefer to watch them at another time. Before anyone suggests enabling Kid mode, it specifically doesn't block official blog posts but blocks activity from your friends. Here are some examples of previous headlines:
Sargsyan Wins Tight Titled Arena
IM Minh Le wins 7th Titled Arena and a Super GM event on Lichess today.
Bortnyk Takes 960 Titled Arena
Naroditsky strolls to TA win
Bortnyk Wins the Titled Arena and the Agadmator Arena is ready to resume
I personally prefer to watch ChessNetwork's coverage of the event which he usually uploads a couple days after the event.
2. Kid friendly. I don't think you should have a news feed with people talking about living in a war zone, even if they are chess players. At the very least I think kid mode should block the official blog posts.
3. Get rid of "No politics on a chess website" comments by allowing users to unsubscribe from them if they are not interested or don't want to be reminded of the real world while playing chess. For many, myself include, chess is a way to relax and get away from it all. Putting current events on your front page distracts from that. And even if people want to see it there is no drawback from letting other people unsubscribe. At the very least I don't think it makes sense to allow people to block messages from their friends by enabling kid mode but not a blog post
4. I imagine it would take very little work from a developer POV given that you can already follow/unfollow other blogs or block the writers (This also doesn't work for the official blog)
Seconded.
Dang I do agree with the OP on this one, but I respect Lichess' effort in this, and I hope they do continue making blogs like those, but while using the OP's opinion on this.
I thought the entry on teaching children chess in bomb shelters even while under bombardment to be worthwhile. I find it hard to imagine what mindset could object to this.
I think a big reason they don't have an option to unsubscribe from these posts is because it's a primary way to communicate site policy and changes to ALL users. The events in Ukraine had ripple effects on site policy, so they explained it. If the lichess team's western "bias" against the wholesale intentional massacre of civilians upsets you, welcome to humanity - everyone has some bias and it leaks through despite our best efforts. The spoiler concerns could be dealt with in another way, such as a petition to stop including spoilers in blog post titles. But I think they should always have a way to communicate with everyone.
Maybe just accept you're not always going to love everything about this free service. Another option is to fork lichess, fund the hosting somehow, and set up your own chess server. Maybe all the other people who demand total escape from real world events would follow you there.
RE: #5
"I think a big reason they don't have an option to unsubscribe from these posts is because it's a primary way to communicate site policy and changes to ALL users."
There are many other ways you could inform people of policy changes, like notifications. However the vast majority of these blog posts are completely unrelated to policy changes.
"If the lichess team's western bias against the wholesale intentional massacre of civilians upsets you,"
I already addressed that regarding kid mode, not everyone on the site is an adult and I think it is perfectly fair that someone might not want to hear about that on a chess website. At the very least I think kid mode SHOULD block it
"The spoiler concerns could be dealt with in another way, such as a petition to stop including spoilers in blog post titles"
I've already several times voiced my frustration regarding spoilers in the title only for it to be brushed off which is why I might sound a bit needlessly hostile at times. I'm usually not someone who cares a lot about spoilers but I don't appreciate them being present on the front page
"Maybe just accept you're not always going to love everything about this free service. Another option is to fork lichess, fund the hosting somehow, and set up your own chess server. Maybe all the other people who demand total escape from real world events would follow you there."
Forking lichess seems like a rather extreme option for something that should be a 10 minute fix with no significant drawback as far as I can tell.
RE: #4
"I thought the entry on teaching children chess in bomb shelters even while under bombardment to be worthwhile. I find it hard to imagine what mindset could object to this."
I have no problem with people wanting to read about that. I just want an option to unsubscribe because
1) That is far from the norm of these blog posts, they are usually recaps of titled arena with the winners name in the title
2) Even if you find them educational I don't see what harm it causes to let people who are not interested to unsubscribe from them
3) I think there should be an option to use Lichess solely for playing chess and lichess does a great job of that. It's by far my favorite chess website and I appreciate the choice not to include ads.
I have no idea about the lichess team's motivation here, or even if there is one.. Could be a principle. "We provide this service with no advertisements but we reserve the right to communicate anything within reason to all users of that service at times." Even to kids. Or maybe it's just at the bottom of a pile of open issues, after "accessibility bug - fix tab order for blind mode." Something like that. You'd be surprised at the volume of stuff that maintainers of an active open source project have to sort through (usually on their own time), and many of the issues submitted by people who think it's just a 10 minute fix.
Back to the blog posts - it's really not so onerous. Although, apparently there was a post about Black Lives Matter once and some people are apparently STILL traumatized about that years later lol. The thing about it is, it's a few little sentences buried in a frame on a free chess server. Who cares what your chess server thinks about x, y, or z? Just don't read it, don't get upset by it. Don't have to agree with it to play here.
I'll try to follow up on the spoiler thing and hopefully get some insight as to why that request gets buried.
RE: #7
"some people are apparently STILL traumatized about that years later lol."
I mean they DID just make a post about their support for Ukraine, their policy on the events, and interviews with chess players from Ukraine so it's not like it's something that just happened one time once long in the past.
The thing about it is, it's a few little sentences buried in a frame on a free chess server. Who cares what your chess server thinks about x, y, or z? Just don't read it, don't get upset by it. Don't have to agree with it to play here.
But it is not just "buried somewhere in a frame" it's featured prominently on the front page. Especially for those of us that tend not to follow people it is in fact pretty much the ONLY thing that shows up in the entire frame. On desktop I usually block the whole frame with uBlock Origin (at the cost that I don't see forum posts by friends) but that isn't an option on the mobile app.
I've never said that I disagree with anything Lichess is saying. Id still consider it inappropriate if they were 100% echoing my exact political opinions with no option to unsubscribe because I don't want to be reminded of the real world when I'm taking a break from life to play chess.
"Just don't read it"
I don't know about you but I've already read most things on the front page before my brain even registers what is going on. Especially if it is in a frame that could contain info on events, streamers going live, forum posts by friends, replies to your forum posts, etc (examples).
"We provide this service with no advertisements but we reserve the right to communicate anything within reason to all users of that service at times."
Again even if that is true I don't see how people talking about their anxiety from living in a war zone is an appropriate thing to show to someone who has kid mode activated.
Fair enough... As an aside, the thing where you dissect a post into little nuggets with responses inline is often used to take things out of context, something people who just want to "win" a discussion resort to. I myself don't mind, but it can rub some the wrong way.
RE: #9
I'm not sure how else to clarify what part of the message I am responding to. It seems too unorganized to respond to a post making 10 different points without clarifying which point I'm addressing specifically at each part of my message. I didn't intend to take anything out of context
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