I did not decide,for it was a present,but you are right artfizz,for the tournements alone not to mention the other benefits,it's really worth it!
What would it take to finally push you over the edge?
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That fact regarding tournaments is what MAY prove to be the deciding factor for me... However, I am a bit reluctant to take the plunge because I would have to be on this site MORE often to justify the expenditure! And I'm not sure I really need to spend more time here than I already do...
The tournement and the tactic trainer are good reason. But I decided to pay because this site is so great. Erik and is team did a good job, so I was happy to give them some cash.
I switched for the tournements also. I just wish I got more time on the tactics trainer 
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the auto-default to vacation in case i can't log on, for whatever reason
I also made the switch from free to paid for the auto-timeout protection and extended access to Tactics Trainer (even tho I haven't been using this feature lately). I switched from silver to platinum primarily for the extra tournament options (create a tournament with 100 players instead of just 12) and all the other benefits that come with it (look at everyone's full stats page, the free gold membership that I gave to my daughter cuz she loves doing the tactics trainer, and the cool Chess.com T-shirt that I kept for myself 
).
I would love to "go over the edge" but I am on a VERY limited income
i just wanted a couple of hours of the mentor and free tactics.
mostly for the tactics trainer and game explorer. i haven't played in any tournaments (yet) but more than 1 at a time is definitely worth it as well i'd think. not to mention, this site rocks and completely deserves the support.
The #1 reason for me was to get rid of the ads, but I enjoy the other benefits as well.
Chess.com offers a service that is worth my time and money so I upgraded.
thanks to all!! :)
1. To support the site
Features which helped deciding on platinum, access to all my games and other people's archives, being able to play in multiple tournaments and host multiple group tnments.
Tactics trainer (improved version) and openings explorer came later but are bioth great. I pay to a rival site for opening dbase, the functionality is very good here but the quality of players and games is less consistent so far, no doubt this will improve like everything else around here and I won't renew the other site.
Free accsess to so many goodies was just incredible, Wanted to help make sure it lasted, also I go off at the mouth a lot and found I was being quite critical on scoring- not a free loader's privilege -so subscribed to put my money where my big mouth was !!
I also hoped to improve by having more tournaments simultaneosly.
I want to organize tournaments for my club coleagues. Diamond i have chosen, because it is lifetime and i believe that chess.com will continue long time.
Most of the world's current economic woes seem to stem from sub-prime. I had no idea you were behind it!
Easy They deserve it this is a great web site easy to use and friendly people and u get more for free then other sites i have been on so the extra money for more features was worth it to improve this already great site. I started on silver because it was cheaper and then decided once i had the extra cash to up grade to gold....
For me, the restriction on free members to a single tournament was the decisive factor - especially when I realised just how long tournaments can take to finish!