I have noticed a few things about the advantages of paying a subscription to chess.com and apparentally one of them is removing advertisements? What exactly does this have to do with chess? It seems like some sort of blackmail to me. Fair enough, there are some great features in paying money for the site but this is a step too far in my opinion. Chess should be about chess, not money and advertising. It's a free country so I can honestly say, you're getting greedy Erik.

Mad_dog_96 wrote:

I have noticed a few things about the advantages of paying a subscription to chess.com and apparentally one of them is removing advertisements? What exactly does this have to do with chess? It seems like some sort of blackmail to me. Fair enough, there are some great features in paying money for the site but this is a step too far in my opinion. Chess should be about chess, not money and advertising. It's a free country so I can honestly say, you're getting greedy Erik.

Well in that case it shouldn't cost money to play in official OTB tournaments either, nor should ICC charge for membership, or any other premium chess sites. There's a whole wealth of stuff being offered here for free, I don't understand why you're so upset that they're trying to make a little money for all the time and work they put into this site?

Far less than making money, something has to pay the bills so that they don't lose money!

Mad_dog_96 wrote:

I have noticed a few things about the advantages of paying a subscription to chess.com and apparentally one of them is removing advertisements? What exactly does this have to do with chess? It seems like some sort of blackmail to me. Fair enough, there are some great features in paying money for the site but this is a step too far in my opinion. Chess should be about chess, not money and advertising. It's a free country so I can honestly say, you're getting greedy Erik.

Greedy?  Blackmail? Are you f'ing serious?  Do you think Erik waved his magic wand or used one of his 3 wishes to make chess.com a reality?  Man, I would love to live in your world, a world that is so privileged that you have no idea what real people have to do to make a living.  And yet, despite living in a fantasy world you're still too cheap to pony up the cash and pay for a service that you use.  You're all class.

In case you can't read between the lines -- those ads that you despise have everything to do with chess as it exists on this site.  Without them, you wouldn't be playing here.  It's those ads and the paid members that allow you to mooch.  If you don't like them, pay up or go find somewhere else to play.  Good luck finding a site without ads....

Good call, Gonnosuke!

Get with it my friend. 

I am a webdesigner.  Running a site like this is a full time job (for a team I daresay, and not an individual).  I would not volunteer to do it for free, nor pay all the costs that go with running a site of this size.  What would I tell my wife and how would I feed my kids??  Its a free country....what exactly does that statement mean?

Sorry Gonnosuke but I'm a working man and barely make a living for myself. When I first joined there was no ads, all the other features were free too. I can understand why Erik has charged for extra features but the advertisements I DO NOT GET!  It's a money making scheme in my opinion, must be the American obsession with capitalism but I don't see the need for ads whenever there's thousands of people who are paying for the extra features. Now you many say I'm a hypocrite cos I'm not signed up, but I'm not too fussed on what I'm missing out on but if Erik removes the ads then I'll sign up for years to come. It's a matter of principle.

Of course it's ethical. The companies advertised contribute to the funds for Chess.com. Premium members have paid, so there is no longer a need for them to have ads, because the money has already been contributed.

I am a paying member now, but played as a free member for several months.  It is my choice which.  I didn't really notice the ads when I was a free member, I guess just used to them.  This site continues to get better and better, including Game Explorer, Book Openings, tournaments, Tactics trainer, Live chess, etc, etc. . . .   I am amazed.  I have played on other sites and none compared with this one 9 months ago, much less today.  Erik and staff are doing a great job, and if I was still a free member, the ads they can recruit are a small inconvenience for the quality of site that comes with them!

is it ethical? you should look up the word "ethical" it's not like i'm murdering baby seals  :) almost every single website in the world has advertisements. the good news is that i give you a way to remove the advertisements by subscribing - something myspace, facebook, google, youtube, etc don't do. i'd say that's pretty nice of me  :)

this "money making scheme" is called my job. i'm trying to buy food for my kids. so far it hasn't paid the bills. go figure.

next question: is it ethical to complain about something you get for free? :D

erik wrote:

is it ethical? you should look up the word "ethical" it's not like i'm murdering baby seals :)almost every single website in the world has advertisements.

this "money making scheme" is called my job. i'm trying to buy food for my kids. so far it hasn't paid the bills. go figure.

next question: is it ethical to complain about something you get for free? :D

It may be ethical, but it gets old fast.

I think adds for internet chess service is a pretty sweet deal.  I wanted more than the standard features and wanted to support the site so decided to pay.

This conversation has given me an idea, though.  Next time I go to the gas station and the attendant tries to charge me, I'm going to inquire, "couldn't you just put some advertisements on my windshield, and we call it good?"

It may be me, but the only ad that I notice or that bother's me on the site is the big fat "The Economist" one, but that's just because it gets in the way of my alerts, otherwise I have no problem getting to play chess for free. =)

Edit: Oh and btw, is this ethical?!?! Give me a break! And also, I'm impressed that Erik lets topics like this stay up, I know I've been on other sites (not necessarily pertaining to chess) where anything critizing the management of it and such will be removed immediately and the user may face punishment, I think this in itself proves the good ethics of chess.com. Unless of course you're account happens to disappear overnight.

I don't understand what isn't ethical about this site.  And i applaud erik for not being to militant in his response to such a preposterous question.  first of all...what exactly is unethical about this website?  The ads themselves? or the fact that one can remove them as a perk of membership?  Certainly a couple random ads cannot possibly disturb someone so much as to make a thread about the unethics... o wait...nevermind.

(PS  TINSTAAFL- "there is no such thing as a free lunch" ^_^)

I only want to remind us all to say: "Thank you, Erik! chess.com is great!"

I honestly think so!

"Thank you, Erik! chess.com is great!"

I can only thank mad_dog_98 for the opportunity he has given us to once again thank Erik and the chess.com staff for the only social life I have.

EXCELLENT EXCELLENT job!

What's so bad about the ads anyway?  I hear you can even get porno.

I have spent around a hundred hours here playing chess. It never cost me a cent. I did subscribe to chess mentor for 6 mo but have let that lapse. Time to become a paid member to my most favorite and most used website.

I'm signing up right now!!!

>.>... This is a very dumb thread from a very dumb poster

These people just have no clue do they.  Thank you Erik and all the staff for making the most wonderful freaking chess site in the bleeping universe.  Hang in there guys, things will get better.