It is clearly impossible to rid the world of bad people, and the online chess community of cheats. While lichess does a good job (better than most) at cheat-detection, the recent loss of a GM (albeit one who has an affiliation to a newly set-up pay site) brings into focus the importance of cheat-detection at lichess.
To that end, I would like to suggest some rather un-radical steps that would help keep cheats from spoiling our enjoyment. Some of these ideas you may like or dislike, but something more clearly has to be done.
1) Take credit card details (not payments) so that real IDs are known - then the player can be banned if he/she cheats.
2) Have a FULL sign up. Originally, developers were resistant to the idea of an email sign up. It is obvious that a full sign up where one's full name, address, blah blah is needed would slow down the cheat-recycling. Forms are boring anyway, so the cheat would probably move sites.
3) Have users play under their real name only and verify it.
4) IP banning may not be 100% effective, but it would stop the low-end cheats in their tracks.
5) Enforce a system whereby new accounts must play x number of games before they can play rated, and y number of rated games before they can enter tournaments.
It is evident that the exponential membership increase at lichess has not been entirely beneficial. We now have 'money tournaments', too many variants to keep track of and the first eyebrow-raising about preferential treatment given to a few members. This is natural when anarchy turns into society, but it is also discomfiting to be in the middle of. Questions are asked about one player receiving the LM title when they allegedly don't fulfil all the criteria; and about the diversity of reaction encountered when some players accuse others of cheating publicly. It's a bit like the arguments about cronyism we have seen in the UK regarding appointments to the House of Lords!
I would suggest that the quality of lichess is in danger of being compromised simply because of its own brilliance and success. So many players, so few moderators and developers, so little time, so many cheats. Perhaps you guys should slow down a bit and get the current issues all sorted out rather than creating Frankenstein's Monster.
Just sayin'.
To that end, I would like to suggest some rather un-radical steps that would help keep cheats from spoiling our enjoyment. Some of these ideas you may like or dislike, but something more clearly has to be done.
1) Take credit card details (not payments) so that real IDs are known - then the player can be banned if he/she cheats.
2) Have a FULL sign up. Originally, developers were resistant to the idea of an email sign up. It is obvious that a full sign up where one's full name, address, blah blah is needed would slow down the cheat-recycling. Forms are boring anyway, so the cheat would probably move sites.
3) Have users play under their real name only and verify it.
4) IP banning may not be 100% effective, but it would stop the low-end cheats in their tracks.
5) Enforce a system whereby new accounts must play x number of games before they can play rated, and y number of rated games before they can enter tournaments.
It is evident that the exponential membership increase at lichess has not been entirely beneficial. We now have 'money tournaments', too many variants to keep track of and the first eyebrow-raising about preferential treatment given to a few members. This is natural when anarchy turns into society, but it is also discomfiting to be in the middle of. Questions are asked about one player receiving the LM title when they allegedly don't fulfil all the criteria; and about the diversity of reaction encountered when some players accuse others of cheating publicly. It's a bit like the arguments about cronyism we have seen in the UK regarding appointments to the House of Lords!
I would suggest that the quality of lichess is in danger of being compromised simply because of its own brilliance and success. So many players, so few moderators and developers, so little time, so many cheats. Perhaps you guys should slow down a bit and get the current issues all sorted out rather than creating Frankenstein's Monster.
Just sayin'.
