Time Controls suggestion:

The current time controls are:

3 days/move

Timeout Warnings: 24 hours. Unlimited amounts allowed.

Vacation time: 4 days. Refreshes every 40th move.

What I want these rules changed into is this:

3 days/move

Timeout Warnings: 24 hours. Maximum 3. Fourth timeout warning is a loss. Refreshes every 40th move.

Vacation time: 14 days. Refreshes every 40th move

I'm interested in making these rules among the standard correspondence rules, but for now, I mainly want these rules in the upcoming championship game that I will play against the winner of @McGoohan and @thegreatauk. Thoughts?

The decision is up for the bulldog chess federation, but I want to know what everyone thinks here.

I am very much in favor of a max on time warnings as suggested by you. You might have that refreshed after 40 moves instead of 10 moves.

I cannot judge for others but when I am on real vacation I am not at all hampered in playing,  only modding would be an issue because that is dependent on a specific device. But as for playing from mobile there is 4G everywhere. 

i had a mobile bug once where i could view vote chess games at all

so there might be a bug about that, too

I basically agree with most (or all) of these suggestions. I believe Martin0 proposed some of them a while ago, but I never announced them as "official" because there was no discussion. (I didn't want to make any changes based on one person's ideas).

I like evert's idea that timeout warnings is refreshed every 40 moves (not 10). This means after three warnings, it's very critical that a player doesn't get lazy, at least till the game has gone to the next 40th move.

I do feel like vacation time of 14 days is a bit much though. Are there some people that must get away for two entire weeks? I can understand it more as a special request (agreed prior to a game). But I think it's a bit much as the "default" for all games. Would 10 days make more sense? It's still a big increase from 4 days.

In the rules thread, 15 days vacation time was suggested, so 14 is slightly less.

On chess.com a basic member can save up to 30 days vacation time. A platinum/diamond member can save up to 90 days. I also think 30/90 days is a bit too much, but 14 sounds reasonable to me.

The main reason for me to go on vacation would usually not just be about internet connection, but rather lack of time. If I need to study for exams without distractions, then using vacation time for a week or two makes sense. If I am on vacation with family/friends, I want to spend time with them instead of analyzing ongoing games. And the time I spend with family/friends is basically from when I wake up to when I go to sleep. I don't want to be that boring guy that must spend time on his phone/computer.

When it comes to timeout warnings, I feel refreshing every 40th move is a bit longer than I would choose. Many games don't last 40 moves and usually I don't mind having to make timeout warnings as long as it is not too often. That said, I am quite fine with max 3 that refreshes every 40th move too.

Whether it's every 10 or every 40, I hope that we can introduce it soon so it is also applicable to the new mega dog tournament

I edited my first post to every 40th move instead.

Every year I travel with my boat for about a month and sometimes even in areas where there is no mobile phone reception at all. But also for the reasons Martin mentioned, vacation of at least 14 days should be possible. But in my opinion 30 days would be better, assuming that these will only be exceptions and that the game usually continues before that.

If unusual circumstances apply to you then you can discuss with your opponent, before your game starts, that you want to deviate from default rules. But the default rules as such should be stricter. Unfortunately, there are cases where people start forgetting to move without proper reason and without communicating why. And if I am the other person in such a scenario, it is satisfying if the default rules facilitate that I can put a limit to that.

I agree with Martin's suggestion

I have given my 4rth time warning to HolographWars and 5th again coming, I am now really annoyed by it.

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-variants/time-thief-championship-holographwars-evert823

So when will this really become effective?

PawnstormPossie, can we play a game?

The purpose of a timeout warning is not to extend the game, but rather to warn someone, so they don't lose on time. In an ideal world it shouldn't be necessary, but it has helped quite a bit to have more games decided on the board instead of on time.

However, timeout warnings has been used a bit too much in some games, so a limit to the amount of timeout warnings has become necessary. With a maximum of 3 timeout warnings, it can not be abused anymore and shouldn't extend the game that much.

Vacation time is for each game. And after every 40th move in a game vacation time gets reset.

I'm not sure why you are worried about people constantly be on/off vacation.

It's a practical decision to have vacation separate for each game. Your opponent needs to know when you go on vacation, so you need to say that you start vacation in the game forum.

With annual vacation we would need to somehow keep track of how much vacation time each player has left and people would need to not only say in each game forum they play when they go on vacation, but somewhere else as well (The guy keeping track of vacation time needs to know). I don't see a way to add annual vacation without making stuff more complicated, game specific is simpler.

Based on this discussion I modified the rules (here) to match these suggestions (up to post #6 here). Thanks for everyone's suggestions and input.

A good point is raised here... I think if someone is on vacation, they should be inactive in all games. That would help to avoid it being used as a strategy to either get more analysis time or to deliberately frustrate the opponent. There's no legitimate reason to be on vacation in one game but not another.

I'm glad to see 14 days vacation for every 40 moves. I'm like Martin in that if I'm away, I don't want to worry about chess games. I sometimes make my move without analysis, but usually I spend at least half an hour analysing a move, and it can be hours. I also never play on a phone, my phone isn't even capable. So this is good.

I don't like such a limitation. I also don't think that such rules are implemented for normal daily chess on chess.com.

I might be on vacation in a very complex game but continue playing in another game with a clear strategy.

Fair enough I guess.