Observer chat disabled at UB

[Justin]

There's a big discussion going on over at PocketFives about UB recently removing observer chat from the cash tables.

Basically UB's main reason is that people from other sites are coming on and trying to poach players (affiliates) and they are losing millions of dollars. A lot of players are pissed off about it now and swearing to never play on UB again.

I know Beanie has strongly supported this decision despite a ton of adversity. I really have opinions both ways on this issue, but what do you guys think about it? Is UB correct business wise to make this decision??? Or is it just hurting their player relations???

[ethomps]

I think they should do what Stars does, if you have enough money in your account to sit at the table then you can chat as observer.

[hoursurfing]

IMO thats a terrible move to take chat away. People play poker to have fun and talk with people. I'll estimate they lose much more than millions from taking caht away than from poaching if they dont put chat back. I dont know whole story but that seems like the worst decision they could have made.

Later

[Georgia Poker]

I agree with the decision. They should base it on the same system as Poker Stars though where you have to have cash in your account to be able to speak to people at a table.

[GregK]

I'm po'd about it at fulltilt, its way outta hand!

EVERY time I've played there the last month or so, some scumbag posts his "go to yaddayadda.com for max bonus" schpeel.

The poker stars solution sounds good to me... fair compromise.

my 2 pesos

[PPP]

It's not a difficult problem. You have to have a real money account with real money in it to chat. You break the rules, you get your account closed. Chat spammers won't bother making many multiple accounts. There will always be idiots who get caught and shut down, but eventually the problem will become very small.

Shutting off all observer chat is way too blanket-ly excessive.

[stillshadow]

Yup, go with Stars on this one. Although, I never really see much of a use for observer chat in the first place. I usually turn off chat altogether if possible when I play online. It's just an irritation and a distraction to me.

[checkingout]

I like being able to talk to friends while they play. I have never been bothered by observer chat, I either ignore it or just shut it off. Not a big deal. I dont know if taking away a useful feature for a customer base is good in such a competitive market. Spammers cant take a long term player away from a preferred poker room. Most long term players know about all the sites already. Not a fan of the change at partypoker. Hate not being able to talk to friends when I watch them and not being able to say good game after a tournament. Right now it doesnt bother me enough to leave but if it does- I will not be leaving because of spammers- I will be leaving because of removal of full chat capabilities.

[NeverBeg]

I do a lot of my playing at UB, and from my experiences there is a spammer posing a website about one to two times every 30 minutes. Also, the amount of people on the site asking for players to transfer them 2 or 3 dollars is ridiculous. You need to be a player at UB for at least 3 months before they give you transfer capabilities, but personally I would never ever do this. I think UB should up the transfer minimums or something to get rid of this. This bothers me more than the spamming in the chat boxes.

[Kyle]

are people actually making money by spamming these poker rooms