Do you think chess.com really cares about the game of chess or do they just view it as a means to spy on internet users for advertising purposes and make money? 

There is other markets that can give more money than chess.

I think they care about chess but want to get some money to help paying the bills.

If it was all about money, only, then they could had make a website with a different topic than chess.

It's a commercial site. They actually want to make money. There is nothing wrong with that.

Caring about a subject and trying to make a living from it are not mutually exclusive - on the contrary!

I can pretty much guarantee you the people who started and run this site have at NO point put "spying on internet users for advertising" as part of their plan.  I'm sure they want to make money - who doesn't?  Would you do a job for free?  Put up your own money and work for a long time for next to nothing to build a business, and then GIVE AWAY your product?

If you buy a premium membership and believe the services aren't as represented, then you have a complaint.  You are questioning what you get for FREE.  If you don't like the place, go somewhere else.

i agree with Sred , there is nothing wrong with trying to make money from advertising whilst providing a good free service to those who dont wish to pay . Now companies like FOXTEL who say its ad free and then use ads should be held to account . Chess . com is a good site

Toughen up a bit dlagwagon , do you pay for this or not ?

Who's getting something for free? Nobody, that's who. Nothing in this world is free. You mean I don't pay money to chess.com. I have in the past but no I don't now, but that still doesn't mean this site is free.

Chess.com makes money off me everytime I visit. Do you think advertisers are lining up to give chess.com money because they are really nice people? No. It's because people use the site.

Several weeks ago I was visiting websites that had to do with tailored mail order suits. Later that week Chess.com was pushing advertisements for IndoChino (mail order suit co) everytime a game ended. Same thing happened with gold bullion more recently. I'm trying to open a dialog about what should be acceptable. I think it's fine that chess.com advertises to me while i'm on this site but it is out of bounds to be tracking my internet usage when I leave. I shouldn't have to spend minutes resetting my browser or downloading anti anything if this site would just be decent. So don't go acting like they are doing me some favor. If they want to be respected in a world where competitors are now just one click away they should listen to users opinions on matters, especially when it involves violating their privacy.

why not just ignore the advertisements and play chess?

It's not about the advertisements, pawn, it's about the fact that chess.com feels it's ethical and perfectly okay to track my internet usage when i leave this site. I personally find that offensive. I don't they are entitled to do such a thing and I want them to change their policy.

Advertisements = okay

tracking me like a creeper = not okay

If you want to be outraged by privacy issue why don't you complain about facebook who sells your pictures to be in the ads?

That'sss a very nice interessst in tailored sssuitsss you have there...

Wow. That's a lot of rage for someone who is actually getting a hell of a lot for free. Personally I couldn't care less if I have chess.com cookies on my computer looking at what sites I visit. It's not going to be very exciting viewing - chess.com, chess.com, chess.com ...

Maybe you're the philanthropist of the century, who knows. But what have you given people for free recently?

mrguy, I don't use facebook for exactly that reason actually.

Waller, dude, your mental; it's not free. No one is giving anything away for free. Chess.com gets paid by advertisers. Why do you think the advertisers want to give chess.com money, is it because they are really nice? No, it's because people, like me, use the site. So I am paying chess.com's bills by using their site. Get it, good, you have passed econ 101 now.

Chess.com is in for a hell of a shocker if they track me, the images will be bunrned in their brains forever! :P

What are you talking about dude? I don't know about you, but I'm not paying chess.com's bills. You said it yourself, the advertisers pay the bills. I don't pay a penny to use the site aside from internet connection fees. The cost for us is seeing the adverts, which is not a quantifiable drawback. Personally I would never buy anything based on an internet advertisement, so I'm still saying its free for me.

You don't think that every site leaves cookies on your computer? It is Google that actually does the tracking that gives you ads for things you were looking at. Chess.com does not choose what ads to have for each person, Google does. They give you the option to opt out of it too.

Of course it is too much to ask to actually know what you are talking about before going on a tirade, but whatever.

Time is more important that money, waller. I spend my time here. 

It's free to me. I haven't ever had to pay a penny for this hang-out. I know you keep citing that "nothing is free", but you should probably take a cliche 101 class.

Your choice. Your time gets spent whether you spend it here or not.

That makes me a stakeholder. So it isn't outrageous for me to request a change in a policy that i find intruisive. Is there a problem with me expressing that I find it offensive that chess.com tracks my internet usage when i leave this site? I understand that you all seem perfectely fine with it. So why don't you send me a list of all the sites you visit too and I'll save that information and sell it to people and I will do this all for free. That's right I'll collect and sell all your information at no charge to you, it's free.