Chess.com does have a way to discourage disconnection and poor sportsmanship.
https://support.chess.com/en/articles/8598007-what-is-chess-com-s-sportsmanship-policy
The automated system is set to recognize and restrict players who have too many aborted games.
I think it also usually recognizes when people abandon games in losing positions.
Many people abandon games, however, because they have poor internet connections.
I've read it before writing this , it says "If your account is flagged for consistently violating our Sportsmanship Policy, your ability to play will be restricted. You will be required to wait five minutes between games, including aborted games."
That's ridiculously lenient, I would like not to meet these people in the first place, and that's very easy to achieve, far easier than spotting cheaters.
I’m seriously fed up with the number of players who abandon games (disconnect or let the clock run down) instead of actively resigning. Out of the 3,445 games I’ve played, in 182 of them, my opponent just left when they were in a clearly losing position.
Today, I faced a player called makakucrazy, who has abandoned 38 out of his 112 total games—that’s 33.93% of his games! Meanwhile, I’ve only abandoned 7 games (due to router issues over 7 months), which accounts for just 0.2% of my total games.
Chess.com needs to take stricter action against this kind of behavior. Here are some suggestions:
Stronger Penalties: There should be more severe repercussions for players who repeatedly abandon games.
Internal Monitoring: Chess.com should internally track the percentage of games abandoned by each player. If a player exceeds 10%, they should be notified, and if they reach 15%, they should face a ban.
Player Preferences: Users should have the option to avoid playing against opponents who abandon more than a certain percentage of their games (e.g., 3%). However, players with a higher abandonment percentage themselves (e.g., 7%) should not be allowed to set preferences for playing against opponents with a better abandonment rate (e.g., 1%).
For what it’s worth, I’ve done my best to report every player who abandoned a game against me, both by submitting a proper report under "stalling/quitting" and giving a thumbs down for bad sportsmanship.
This behavior is toxic to the game, and it’s high time Chess.com took action to improve the experience for everyone.