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To prevent abuse, you can only leave on vacation when it is NOT your move in any game.

i keep getting this horrible very annoying inconvenient message when ever i or other non paying members try to pause our games  to attend  to an important business or recreation vacation even if we only have 2 or 1 difficult game that can not analyze good enough in seconds  so we are not allowed  to pause our games unless we make random moves on all of our games that is our turn in them 

, mind you my chess mates  that this annoying  hypocrytical message  does not show it self when i was able to afford their golden and etc memberships  even  when i had dozens of games running then i and others  was always able to pause my games and go on vacation regardless .

i contacted  help & support staff  about this unbelievable double standard that does not exist on other chess sites  but they were totally unsympathetic !!

Is it not time for  all of us hundreds of thousands of chess.com members to stand up against this biased unfair advantage  and give all the poor people the same emergency game pausing  abilities ???!!!

Do you have any idea how much it costs to run the site? It's really quite expensive. Paying members should get some benefits for helping to keep the site up and running. 

As for the argument that no other site has advantages like that - 1.) This is not true, I can name at least two other sites that have similar benefits to paying members. 2.) Those same other sites don't give free members nearly as much as this one does. I know of a few that will allow free members to play unlimited games, but it's very very few, and the ones that do have virtually no other benefits.

that does seem like an odd free v. paying feature to me as well. 

i know it is expensive to run it , that`s why i do my share and buy a membership every once in a while , but when it runs out , i have to rush my moves into getting  bad lost positions when i have studies or family business to attend to and that is not nice from the site to force us to make any move or just lose on time because we also have lives to live.

 furitiveking there is no other sites that only allows at will pausing for vacation  only for paying members and you know it!.

Mind you  chess freinds  that i encourage everybody to buy a membership if u can , it does has some advantages that are fair  , like some chess events coverage etc..

There are. I played on one for several years before I played here. And on their site, you have to have an account for months before they even let you post to do forums if you don't pay. They really stick it to their free members.

I don't agree with that either. I think paying members should get benefits that non-paying members don't get but not if it gives them the leg up in a chess game.

that is evading the issue mate not tackling it, and actually you got the vast majority of experts  and masters rated players  are free members most of time  and one can use the welfare arguement  when they  agree to play  you a mere 1700 player for free even though they got nothing from it in term of challenge , but they are very generous with their time and are enriching  the site with their presense  here  is helping & encouraging other lower  rated players of chess.Com

A leg up? Seriously? How does this give you an advantage? If you can't handle the number of games you are playing, play fewer. I just don't see how this gives someone a "leg up" in a chess game.

 yes  bud  , but not in term of game pausing abilities , i played on atleast 7 at one point in total and currently on 4 different sites asside  from chess.com that dont give any pausing ability advantages for any type of members over the others, i understand  the paying members  should  have  more advantages  like  more vacation time  , more  full video lessons  , chess mentors etc..  the list goes on and  on  , they do not have  to stick it  to us  as you descried !!

I agree with Ilmago, agreeing with straycat. This is kind of an awkward benefit, as it will mostly benefit those who are abusing the system. Its not all that appealing to honest players. I, for one, am not moved to purchase a premium membership any more than I was before finding out about this.

I don't think a leg up is the right term- but it allows for gratuitous vacation abuse.

I agree with your idea straycat and some of the paying members abuse this opend vacation benefit I myself start to avoid playing any one with membership witho0ut checking his move time rate the other point there are many players in the third world (sorry for this term) cannot afford to pay and certainally its not fair to them 

yah! that's true...this make noon paying member avioding to match paying member because of that  benefit..

This is not a 'feature'. Chess.com say this is done to prevent abuse. So does it mean that premium members do not abuse?

Premium members should have benifits like video lessons, tactics trainer etc. But not such ones which will make them unjustly win games on time. 

If it takes so much to run this website, chess.com should not keep the option of free member. They should make premium membership compulsory. They should stop giving unjust of advantages to premium members. 

Straycat, I understand your frustration. There are other options here.

1. Enter "no vacation" tournaments

2. When choosing games, accept (or offer) longer time constraints

I agree it is something that is awkward. The staff will surely be addressing this.

Ivandh is correct, also. The vacation abuse issue (beat to death, I know) IS a problem. Perhaps you may find  some friends here where you can make the time controls work so that no one involved will be "forced" to move or lose on time.

I personally feel like I can beat the paying members. That's why I'm here

I have to admit I wasn't aware of this rather odd discrepancy between free vs. paying accounts. After trying out the site, I liked it well enough to buy a membership. However, in deference to players who cannot presently afford a membership, I will try not to use this advantage. Clearly, it is not sporting to have two players involved in a game with different rules. Premium members should get some extra benefits (as they ARE keeping this wonderful service in business), but these should not involve the playing of the game itself. Thus, extra perks such as videos, lessons, etc., for paying members does seem sensible.

completely agree