Potential Issue with Anonymous Users Having Access to Game Chat

Forgive me if this has been discussed before. I did a quick search and didn't see anything that addresses this specific issue.

I play in the lichess 45/45 league. I've noticed in my games and in others that often an anonymous user or two will show up to observe a game. What would prevent the players themselves from logging in on a another computer or, heck, even just opening another tab and pulling up the game without signing in? I ask because it seems like reading the observer chat could potentially reveal things (lines, ideas, etc.) that the players might not see themselves. I suspect this is happening with some regularity. Seems unsportsmanlike to me. And the league rules forbid receiving assistance from any source. What can we do to prevent it?

To be clear, I love chatting with other observers when watching my teammates play. And I love the whisper feature when I'm playing a game. But what concerns me is the possibility that any opponent can simply open another tab and take a look at what people are saying in the chat. Obviously, this could lead to picking up ideas from observers. It would even be quite easy for stronger teammates to deliberately feed lines to a player who is posing as an anonymous viewer.

Thanks in advance for your response to my query.

I think spectators cannot see the game chat, unless its a tournament.

@kiritolemon unfortunately they can. They used to be unable to see spectator chat but this changed at some point.

I am a member (and moderator) of the 4545 league and I am also concerned about this. As things stand currently there is no way for us to stop players from pulling up the game link anonymously and taking move suggestions from the chat.

can't prevent that, theres an alogirthm for cheating players

I very respectfully disagree. It's easy to prevent ---- by disabling anonymous users' access to game spectator chat.

I agree with MrScribbles here, no reason to give them access to the chat since they cannot participate in it.

But wouldn't disabling chat for anonymous users only add one extra hoop to jump through? It's not that difficult to sign up for another account.

Edit.
Other than that, I can see the problem, but not sure how sufficient solution this is. I think my point is that if someone's gonna cheat they'll cheat, either by using an engine, or reading the chat with another account

Jsettle, why do you suspect it's happening regulary? Becuase players often play moves suggested by spectators, or because there are often a few anonymousers? I often spectate anonymously when I am on slack but not logged into lichess. Taking away spectator chat visibility from anonymousers would remove this convenience, and would also remove potential interest from people that don't have accounts yet and stumble into viewing the game (however small this number of people may be, it doesn't mean they are unimportant).

kirkitolemon was talking about the fact that spectators cannot see the game chat, which is still true.

As for using anonymous viewing for cheating, this shouldn't be a big enough problem to outweigh the positives because:
(1) Most cheaters would think of using an engine instead
(2) Opening another tab (on the same computer) while logged in will show the user logged in on that tab (at least on my browser it does; maybe you mean opening up a different browser? Don't know if that works or not).
(3) The chat can also mislead or confuse the cheater (cheaters are not known for their willingness to work on understanding concepts - it is just as likely to make their "head hurt" and cause them to search for an "easier" way).
(4) Most cheaters, being already inadequate in creativity, work ethic, and emotional control, probably wouldn't even think of doing this when there are lazier and better ways to cheat.

Sometimes players may make the "suggested" move, but it doesn't mean they are cheating. Keeping this feature may even be good for cheat detection efforts because it could reveal patterns for specific players, and patterns are the import part. (If you argue that the player wouldn't have cheated without this feature [being able to see the chat], you're probably wrong - they would try another way.)

It is reasonable to make it so that anonymousers cannot see the spectator chat, but I don't think it's worth it, and I like the convenience.

@kampsun. You make a valid point. I don't know what kind of capabilities the cheat protection has. I hope that it can detect multiple accounts. Perhaps a lichess developer could chime in and let us know if it is more or less likely to detect a cheater who is observing chat under a different user name or one who is observing chat anonymously.

@Astronominoff. My suspicions are only based on seeing anonymous users pop up with some regularity. I can't imagine that there are too many folks stumbling onto my games and taking an interest in them unless they are in the league. This phenomenon only happens to me during league play, and anyone who is in the league most certainly has an account and it's no inconvenience to use it.

You gave two (maybe three) examples of positive consequences of allowing anonymous users to see spectator chat:

1. You personally like to spectate anonymously. (I don't really see the inconvenience in simply logging on with your username.)
2. It could result in declining interest of folks who don't have accounts yet. (Doesn't lichess already limit access to certain things for folks who don't have an account, like making studies and the like?)
3.? It could be good for cheat detection to continue to allow this opportunity for cheating.

I suppose you are right to frame the discussion in terms of whether or not the positives of allowing anonymous users to see spectator chat outweigh the possibility that this could quite easily be abused. Personally, I'm of the mind that this is worth a continued conversation.

Now, if this is something that lichess developers are aware of, and they are confident that current cheat detection efforts are dealing with the type of cheating I described in the OP, I'm all good. Also, if they think that that allowing this kind of thing enhances their cheat detecting abilities, I guess I'm ok with that. But if this kind behavior isn't being detected, it just makes cheating way too easy.

Ultimately, I hope a lot of people will do exactly what you have done: take a look at the potential positives and negatives of allowing anonymous users to see spectator chat. Personally, I'm still of the mind that allowing it causes a vulnerability that can be too easily exploited. I hope I'm wrong.