Cheats, cronyism and Frankenstein's Monster.

Sounds like a waste of time for the developers and would give away blunders.

"IP banning may not be 100% effective, but it would stop the low-end cheats in their tracks."

But these guys pay $5-$10 and are sitting in a cyber café somewhere in the world if you IP ban them it would affect innocent players who don't cheat who use the same place to play.

In a cyber cafe the computers firstly would ought to have stockfish installed, and the cheater would be ashamed to cheat in plain site.

Now if someone is using his own laptop in a coffe shop this is a different story.

i dont know if everyone would like to give away information like their name, address, ect. :/

And a poll or a list with the most accused of cheating? If many people accuse one person, that person could be included there. Then, one ranked 1st of the cheaters list should be avoided. Maybe the poll could be displayed on the website and quickly seen.
I would call it, "Suspicious players"

The idea noob2chess had in #5 is a very good one: getting your account verified, probably by providing a photo ID copy, and this being optional.

What Wesley So did however, was very immature.

I played against cheaters too, but I can't say I care about it. Of course, when you have high rating, you care more, but you shouldn't overreact.

Also, important, Wesley So was paid for his streamed appearances on lichess. He wasn't doing us a favor.

@15 Then we all are "suspicious player[s]" and labeled under "universal suspicion" the moment we creating an account. Next to an IP-ban, cheaters and repeat offenders should be on top of the agenda and displayed on a lichess's internal "black-board" open to the public inclusive their alts. But who has a free time to do this, to verify them plus linking them to such a black-board?

volunteers step out!

I volunteer to update a black-board 10 minutes a day

#16. I do not mean verified as in providing ID. I mean it as in once you have been on a certain amount of time and or played a certain number of games you can get a ribbon or checkmark saying you are not a cheater and you are a respectful lichess user. This way people that SERIOUSLY dislike playing cheaters at all costs know they are playing someone that does not cheat.

I prefer to remain anonymous.