Inappropriate chat posts

[wvwoman]

i have again sent a message to admin regarding the offensive, snarky, off-color and/or inappropriate chat posts that are appearing more often by "guests."

i urge you to join me in my request to have only members be able to post in chat, in order to eliminate these anonymous posts.

i understand this was a problem in the comment sections on puzzle solution pages some years ago until admin changed that rule. i think the same rule is true here in forum, too, right? so, chat is the only place people can anonymously make comments.

[imported_Lurker]

I hate to drive off potential members, but the trolling has gotten bad. I've recently been in a chat room where there's at least one mod online at all times to delete anything inappropriate. Stephen is on his own and has better things to do. It won't stop a troll from joining, but most won't bother.

[wvwoman]

I hate to drive off potential members, but the trolling has gotten bad. I've recently been in a chat room where there's at least one mod online at all times to delete anything inappropriate. Stephen is on his own and has better things to do. It won't stop a troll from joining, but most won't bother.

how would it drive off potential members? i'm not under the impression that most people chat as a guest before joining...

[imported_Lurker]

There's the occasional gamer who asks in chat basics of how the site works or how to solve cryptos. We then direct them to the appropriate pages. Some can't figure it out for themselves and look for help.

[gryhnd51]

I pretty much agree with wvwoman. I also don't want to discourage any folks who might be interested in playing, but I've been around for over 10 yrs and I could count on one hand how often someone actually goes into the chat room to BEGIN to get involved. How many of us players started out that way? I know for sure that I didn't start out that way.
I think we would all agree that we'd be upset if somehow the chat room was a backdoor into hacking this site like so many others have been! Many of you don't have to worry about it much if you don't have a premium acct....but my credit card info is involved!
I would encourage Stephen to limit the chat room to enrolled users. That isn't a guarantee for any of us, but it might help w/ the trolls and the nasty comments that come out of nowhere!

[TimmyTee]

If someone can't figure out what's going on here, perhaps they aren't cut out for it anyway?

I'm a newby, you've all treated me really, really nicely!! I found the site because I've been doing cryptograms in the newspapers for ages and got to wondering what was available for semi-automated crypto games on the internet.

Turns out that this site is truly wonderful. I like the approach of actual quotes from people. The ones in the paper tend to have a certain predictable pattern that isn't as much fun.

[marnita]

I agree with wvwoman. It is annoying, to say the least, to find obnoxious and offensive comments in the chat section. We should be able to chat back and forth in an amiable way without being offended. The most recent one I ran into was an abbreviation - I had no idea what it meant, so I googled it, and was totally shocked and embarrassed to find that it referred to pornography. I would never have googled it if I had known. I do hope I am not going to get a lot of pornographic ads, etc., as a result! I am not all that easily offended, but that was just too much!

[opallady]

Clear your browsing history.

[LLapp]

Stephen, please limit chat to logged-in members

I completely agree with everyone above.

Stephen, you should restrict the chat box to only registered users as long as there’s no moderator. A moderator acts as the host in standard host-guest etiquette; without a host there can be no real “guests” — no one is there to tell them the rules of engagement or stop intruders from abusing the site. Without a moderator, anyone anywhere with an internet connection is free to intrude and abuse the site, and intruders have been abusing the site frequently enough to be a problem.

You wouldn’t invite guests to a party at your house and then not show up to host them. Please stop inviting unmoderated guests into our conversations.

Thanks for maintaining this wonderful site.

Lisa

[gryhnd51]

Stephen, I wholeheartedly second that
Many thanks.
Beth

[wvwoman]

check out chat right now!

please, stephen?

"01:26 Guest: Looking at an awfully lot of Info
01:28 Guest: Comments" left at various crypt solutions, it seems many people are blinded by the fact that their candidate didn't become POTUS. One would think that the people on THIS site
01:30 Guest: would be some of the most brilliant people of our time, yet, so blinded they don't see the multitude of accomplishments Trump has made to bring US ALL to a higher level.
01:30 Guest: Need I LIST THEM???
01:34 Guest: sure, he's crude and all of that, but, it is long overdue that the "swamp" was drained!
01:36 Guest: Get over it. Stop whining. Cheer the fact that jobs are climbing, wages are rising, rediculous reg's or being thrown out, minorities are getting jobs, undocumenteds are being
01:37 Guest: sent home, our military strength is being restored, countries are forced to have free/equal trade agreements... etc.etc
01:38 Guest: So if the "Russians" rigged our election, thank them!"

[ddph]

I've never used chat. Guest sounds like a Trump supporter. Nothing wrong with that. I'm sure there are both Trump opponents and Trump supporters on Cryptograms.org. But to me the puzzles are why I am here and people across the political spectrum should be able to play and to respond to each other civilly. So, whether you agree with Guest or not, at least he doesn't seem to be doing any name calling. I'm not sure what your problem is with the posts, Wvwoman. Care to elaborate?

[admin2]

I've set it up now so that the chat page will only work for registered users.

I agree this latest round of posts wasn't all that offensive (compared to what we've seen in the chatbox before), but at the same time I'd rather keep politics off the site as much as possible. This goes for all sides - please try to refrain from overtly political comments on the forums, chat or in the comments section for individual cryptograms.

Thanks everyone!
Stephen

[wvwoman]

I've set it up now so that the chat page will only work for registered users.

I agree this latest round of posts wasn't all that offensive (compared to what we've seen in the chatbox before), but at the same time I'd rather keep politics off the site as much as possible. This goes for all sides - please try to refrain from overtly political comments on the forums, chat or in the comments section for individual cryptograms.

Thanks everyone!
Stephen

thank you, stephen, from the bottom of this old wv heart!

the problem i had with this particular "round" wasn't so much the topic; i just felt it was an unfriendly, aggressive rant. very odd way to address a new chat group.

[ddph]

Thanks admin, for making this a fun site. I really enjoy it.