Report FAQ

What are reports for?

On Lichess we want all people to be respectful to each other and to play fair. If someone does something against our Terms of Service we want to make sure that this behavior doesn't continue. That's what reports are for. If you think someone broke the ToS in any way you can report that user.

Why does Lichess need me to report?

Lichess is an open source project which depends a lot on the community helping to keep it running. That's why we need the whole community to help us catch people not playing fair or breaking the ToS in any other way.

What should I write into my report?

You should write all the information that is needed to understand what happened. Include links to games or tournaments and explain what you think the user did wrong in those. If you just say: "this user insulted me" we might not be able to find evidence of that, so include all links that are needed in your report.

What happens to my report?

If you report someone on Lichess your report will be forwarded to the moderators. The moderator then will look at your report and decide if there need to be actions taken. They may send a warning for first time offenses or minor offenses. They might ban someone if they are cheating or chatban people that are ignoring warnings or are highly offensive. This process might take a day or two.

Do I get informed about the actions taken?

You might get a notification if somebody you reported is banned. You will not get notifications about any other actions taken. So there might have been a warning without you getting informed about it. Getting no notification doesn't mean the report was dismissed or not looked at. There is no need to send a second report about the same infraction. It will not be looked at faster nor will it make a ban more likely.

I got a message someone got banned, but I still see their account open?

When you report someone for an offensive chat they might receive a ban. This ban however will not stop them from playing games on Lichess. It will ban them from taking part in the community via Chats. This ban will not be visible to the public.