live chess chat rom

if this website gave me the option to insert a poll here i would. 

so we can't get admins to defend or justify the live chess chat room in other threads so i thought i'd give them a chance here.  i understand that chess.com exists to make erik and his cronies some cash--i get that and i have no problem with it--dudes, i paid you already, but i think catering to racist, rude, annoying, bantering, sexist, semi-brain dead users is pretty low.  i mean, come on kids.  is this a myspace or a chess website?  no wonder andrew martin split.  we can use yahoo if we want to bag on each other....

how do the rest of you feel about this feature.  i hope this discussion can be semi-intelligent...  we'll see.

When I play live chess, I just ignore main chat.

Simples!

I support the Chess.com chat room. It's one of my main reasons for being here - no other site allows such a free flow of ideas in a chess environment.

The chat room houses some interesting debates from time to time. I dare say that the thinking it produces on my behalf also accelerates my chess. It would be a shame to put it away.

you're right, the idea seems simple...  and i think ignoring the chat is a fine option.  i'm not only talking about how people avoid it.  i'm looking for way more than that.  if you avoid it--why do you avoid it?  doesn't it tell you something about this site and the admins that the chat room is something you feel like you have to ignore?

I use it often when I'm seeking a 1 min game. Every once in awhile I'll participate in the discussion too. Some people say some very rude things in there though, to be sure.

98% of what i see in the chat room is:

Ridicule

Insults

Racism

Profanity

Sexism

Personally id like to see it go, but i also have no problem defending peoples right to be stupid, immature, and or ignorant.

The live chess chat stories are, in my opinion, greatly exaggerated. In general most of the offenders are 800 some rated freebies who feel like spamming. 

But don't worry, it's all going to be alright! I will give you step by step instructions on how to solve this problem once and for all... (well...for you!)

1. Enter live chess. At this point feel free to avert your eyes, the chat box won't have filled up yet, but somebody might have commented and you don't want to see what all those mean people have to say!

2. Click your settings tab.

3. Don't actually change any settings.

4. Magically the live chess chat has disappeared...!!!!!

It is the single worst abused feature on this site, and while I think disabling it altogether would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater, something desperately needs to be done.  This isn't Yahoo! after all.

i just click the settings tab so i dont see it.

Ignoring the problem doesn't make it go away.  Someday it would be nice to be able to actually use the feature minus the abuse.

This is simply untrue and misinformative.

Hyperbole's don't do well when trying to make a point.

That's kind of funny, it's similar to going to the "notes" tab in turn-based chess, and then never returning to the chat tab.

98% is surely an exaggeration, but I have seen all of those things in the Live Chess chat room and they aren't acceptable in any quantity.

I use the feature often and occasionally there are very nice discussions. Most of the time, however, the feature is used by people who want to get a game, or greet some friends.

Hey, at least with the "notes" tab you can have half a conversation.... 

yeah maybe you didn't read the first few posts but

WE ALL KNOW WE CAN DISABLE IT

i'm not asking for instructions on how to disable it.  i'm asking for what people think of it and if they feel it should stay or go and most of all i'm asking admins to justify it or defend it as they are in charge of it and have to take responsibilty of the crap that appears in it.

also worth noting--i agree that a huge percentage--maybe not 98% but at least 75% of everything i've ever read there has been worthless to the chess community.

nice one

Well if you truly believed that you would be in for a rough go at designing and maintaining an online community.

I saw fit to answer your silly thread with a silly reply.

"75% of things being said are worthless to the chess community"? Well that I do agree with, but I don't see the problem... Should all off topic conversation be deleted?

It strikes me that this thread is somewhat worthless to the chess community...

Clearly it can't be eliminated altogether -- pursuing something like that past the point of diminishing returns simply isn't pragmatic, but that should be the ideal that drives any policy regarding it.  I worry a little bit that it's currently happening on a frequent enough basis that it drives away potential new members -- there's plenty of room for improvement before we're anywhere near the point of diminishing returns.