good point regarding time out. my signal is weak and internet speed is very slow and delayed. i must react within two or three secounds to avoid getting blamed and punished for aborting. i have never aborted yet i have received warnings and been banned from playing many times
"first-move" timout too short
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A minute to make your first move? How bad is your opening prep? 
i agree with the matchstick on this, a minute is ample time BUT a warning as seven suggested would avoid lost seconds. i however have less than five seconds for my preparation due to my location and internet supplier. fortunatley my 'prep' is crap so i don't often fail this deadline. i let my instinct takeover :0
crack pipes haven't really caught on over here yet this year. don't forget we're at least three years behind lol/haha/jeje. i do like the voice idea, perhaps we could choose accents or languages. i wondor what hurry up would sound like in Maori, would a tongue be needed? lmho/lmao/molt
I agree with both proposed improvements for live games.
Sometimes, my opponent starts the game with an unusual move and, before I decide on my response, the game is aborted. I use the iPad app and I think that I have 10 seconds or less to answer with my first move. This is too short when your opponent surprises you with the opening move. I believe that 30 seconds would be OK.
I've also experienced the other problem too frequently: I create a new challenge and wait a lot of seconds staring the screen waiting for someone to accept the challenge. If I get distracted while waiting, I risk to miss the start of the game leading then to an aborted game or to the waste of precious seconds in a blitz game. And this could be solved with a sound letting you know that the game has started.
I hope that someone from chess.com staff is taking note as this is really very easy to implement in the next version of the iOS and Android apps.
If someone knows how to propose these changes to them, let me know.
i'll send a carrier pigeon at dawn
currently, and for the fifth time in as many months i have been restricted and must wait five minutes between every game! not once have i aborted a match and broken their fair play policy as they say i have. this is not good!
Too short? I think it's too long :P
I of course appreciate bad connection can mean you need the 20 seconds
DarkJediNinja wrote:
Sometimes, my opponent starts the game with an unusual move and, before I decide on my response, the game is aborted.
Yup this issue affects me too. Some people say I should know my openings well enough to reply to any first move at the snap of a finger. I have never heard of such a chess rule. I don't have a prepared reply to things like 1.f4 - I just work these things out at the board. But no chance - given I know that the abort is coming. So I end up playing inferior replies to unusual first moves. Orangutan 1.b4 is another one that always gets me.
i've reluctantly stuck with one quick opening as i've timed out so many times, some days its hit n miss whether i get to play. recently i dive bombed a 1000 rating points thru connection loss. but i refuse to pay for a faster connection and i take these consequences. but no surprise to say that i find the rest of this site logical fast and well organised. 
In "Live" games:
20 secs. timeout for first move is too short. 1 minute seems better.
Also, a "notify" sound to let the user know a connection to opponent has been made would eliminate "Aborted by server" situations due to users moving away from web-browser tab to do other things while waiting for a game to start.
A voice saying "Chess game ready" would be more meaningful, clear, and to the point. Perhaps a pleasant female voice for white pieces, and a pleasant male voice for black pieces ... which would make it less monotonous as well.