Don't bet on that either. There is a USCF affiliate in Seoul:

Is this how you handle controversy???

Todays puzzle Zimmermann vs Huebner, 1977

has been played by Frank Zimmermann and <Wolfgang Huebner>, who is the elder brother (* 17. Juni 1943) of Robert Hübner.

Wolfgang is so far not a player in the ceegee database, so this is probably a good starter.

There are too many imbeciles here who deserve, if not outright bans, suspensions, post deletions and modifications, and official site censure. Moderation is sorely needed on this site.

- <Ignore> is insufficient, since postings can be seen when the cursor hovers over the thread or when another poster quotes the ignored member. What's more, there is no <block> feature, which would help slightly.

- <Reporting posts> seems to have no effect of any kind.

- The lack of a <private message> system is a big drawback.

Official site: http://www.chess.az/DefaultEn.html

I agree that certain members could do much better minding the Posting Guidelines. (No surprise there.) Invariably, the people who complain about being personally attacked are the worst offenders themselves. The Administrators are trying to balance running a business with keeping everyone happy, which is an impossible task. Things are much better compared to 2004 when the Kibitzer's Cafe was a daily dissertation on Iraq, the Kramnik page was one continuous argument about Reunification, and the Fischer page was a no-holds-barred anti-American/anti-Semitic free-for-all. Private messaging has been suggested many times but brings up a whole new set of problems regarding Moderating abusive and threatening and even Libelous communications, so many users post in public here and in private on QueenAlice or through e-mail.

Incidentally <ceegee>, the Navara-Láznička match in Nový Bor is about to wind up and you may like to add it to the database.

I sincerely appreciate the courtesy of proving us with a detailed explanation.

I'm not even going to say that you are making the wrong decision. In our defense however, I'd like to make a few points:

1. The Whistle complaints really do get read, every one of them. Sometimes the only action taken is a note of complaint added to a player's records, and sometimes we take action too slowly, but no Whistle get ignored.

2. We know that the ignore feature is not perfect, but it's better than nothing, and other than a few tiny bugs (the like the mouse-hover issue you mentioned) it does work as advertised. I'd also like to point out that very few forums have a feature anything like it, simply because it is not an easy thing to implement.

3. Like yourself, many members here write to us and say "your site would be so much better if you banned..." and then they enumerate a list of members. The problem is, it's never the same list. If we catered to every one of those request there might be very people left. So instead we imitate a republic, where a body of law stands above the will of the mob.

4. The term "banning" itself is a sort of misnomer, or you might call it an "internet myth". Nobody is every really banned from using any website; that's technically impossible. The worst we can do is delete or freeze their account. If they find a way to sneak back in, so goes it.

5. About private messaging, we were very keen on that in the past, but after our first questionnaire and simply asking our members, we found that very few wanted that feature and some even spoke out against it vocally. We still don't say we'll never provide it, but it's a touchier issue than I had at first believed.

Having said all that, many users like yourself do not go premium so much for features (Guess-the-Move,etc.) but rather to simply join a fraternity of chess lovers and support the website that enables then to exist. When you find estranged or even offended by the community, I can see the argument for stopping the support. That's a decision up to you.

Any time this year would be fine. I can tell your busy.

<Like yourself, many members here write to us and say "your site would be so much better if you banned..." and then they enumerate a list of members. The problem is, it's never the same list.>

<But come on, who are the usual suspects?>

<Activate: isemeria
Years: 1
New Count: 8>

Here's the post on the game page: Chessgames Challenge: Akobian vs The World, 2011