I call on Lichess to ban Russia in social protest.

There are very few concrete actions that the average global citizen can take to punish a nation that is behaving antisocially but we all should do what we can. Exerting social pressure through ostracization is one of the few options available. Lichess, being a global community, can and should exercise that option.

Certainly not every (likely not even most) Russian lichess user supports Putin's aggressive actions. And certainly they bear little personal responsibility for their government's actions. Still, they have more influence on their government than non-Russians do. Pressuring Russian citizens in whatever small ways we are able with the hope that they in turn will pressure their own government is one of the few actions we can take as global citizens to push back against Russia's imperialistic war on Ukraine.

Social sanctions such as these will have little effect unless and until they become widely adopted. Lichess, being a global community, has an ethical responsibility and an opportunity to show leadership by employing sanctions immediately and suspending all access from Russian owned IPs pending Putin's cessation of aggression against Ukraine.

Lichess, please do the right thing.

*** NOTE *** This was previously posted and removed. According to the moderator response (lichess.org/forum/lichess-feedback/forum-post-incorrectly-removed#8) when I inquired about its removal, the deletion was "overzealous" and they "are currently looking to see if we can technically restore the previous forum topic." This was quite a while ago, however, so I'm guessing restoration hasn't been possible. In light of that, I'm reposting the original content myself. Unfortunately, the responses it had begun to accumulate may be lost. ****

Stop that, this is a chess website, not a place to discuss politics.

Pls stop this discussion ,if you want to discuss about this go to other website like twitter,facebook quora etc.

Stop it. You are discriminating thousands of innocent Russian Lichess users.

#1 I don't it's fair to ban Russian users, they are innocent! They can't control what the president does or not, it's not their choice.
#2 and #3 I think some discussion about the world's problems is allowed, but not to this extent.

@InkyDarkBird said in #4:
> Stop it. You are discriminating thousands of innocent Russian Lichess users.

Discrimination implies prejudice. I'm not nor am I suggesting that anyone be biased against Russian users. I am suggesting that Lichess impose a social sanction on Russia while that nation is engaged in imperialistic warfare.

@DERG_CHESS said in #6:
> U stupid? How is it the fault, of the ppl who live in Rusia? It was their president, not them lol

I think starting with "U stupid?" is probably not acceptable given Lichess's forum etiquette guidelines.

Still, I'll be happy to answer you.... partially by pointing out that I already did. I specifically stated that "certainly they [Russian lichess users] bear little personal responsibility for their government's actions."

However, Russians certainly bear more responsibility for their government than citizens of other countries and they aren't powerless to change it. If properly motivated, they will. Lichess should do its small part in providing them with the motivation to do so.

@mrjbones said in #9:
> I think starting with "U stupid?" is probably not acceptable given Lichess's forum etiquette guidelines.
>
> Still, I'll be happy to answer you.... partially by pointing out that I already did. I specifically stated that "certainly they [Russian lichess users] bear little personal responsibility for their government's actions."
>
> However, Russians certainly bear more responsibility for their government than citizens of other countries and they aren't powerless to change it. If properly motivated, they will. Lichess should do its small part in providing them with the motivation to do so.
Well, how are they supposed to change it, bruh?

@mrjbones said in #8:
> Discrimination implies prejudice. I'm not nor am I suggesting that anyone be biased against Russian users. I am suggesting that Lichess impose a social sanction on Russia while that nation is engaged in imperialistic warfare.
It's still eliminating innocent Russians' freedom to be on Lichess.