on the other hand... every time you log in you are treated like a winner. I mean, I always seem to win one of those daily drawings ;)
Chess.com advertising
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Either the site is paid for by ads or by premium membership. However it could be argued that since it is a chess site the tone and brashness of the ads allowed should be taken into consideration. For example the classical radio station in Chicago does not run the same types of ads as other stations. The announcers read all the ads in a calm and normal tone of voice. There is no "Shock and Awe".
Jan 25, 2011
0
#4
tell you what - you come over to my house every day and cook and clean and wash my car and do odd jobs around the house - all for free and without complaint - and i'll stop asking you to pay me for doing my job. fair?
we have 25 server, 3 million members, 17 employees, 20+ professional content creators, and many many people who enjoy our services. it's expensive to run a big organization that provides all of the services that we do. this isn't a charity. it's not some huge corporate yahoo games junk site funded by public stock offerings. this is a small business trying to do big things and that costs money.
if you can't pay, the least you can do is not complain when we give you a nudge every once in a while. i know that's hard to understand when you're 18 and probably not out from under your parents' wallet yet, but some day when you're out grinding it out at a job, you'll be asking people to pay for things. and you'll appreciate when they do. and you'll appreciate when they don't, but are kind about it.
About the pop-ups, they are easy to disable anyway.
Don't you have an anti pop-up?
McFly: I want a Pepsi Free.
1950's guy: Hey, if you want a Pepsi you will have to pay for it!
No the only thing Erik really should change about free membership is taking down the 30 second rule in the chat room of live chess. That's the only place where people can freely discuss topics or ask for help and get an immediate response, and having to explain something in thirty second intervals when the person is looking for an answer right away is annoying. Or conversely answer someone who can only ask a question every 30 seconds. Also it just makes talking to more than one person hard.
As long as the ads don't contain viruses I can get just from accessing the page, I'm okay with them.
I'm looking to be a premium member but I need to buy a laptop and take care of my next tournament entrance fee first :(. However, by just being a part of the website we provide a competitive field for other paying members to play against, so we aren't just free loading off of you Erik :P.
erik wrote:
tell you what - you come over to my house every day and cook and clean and wash my car and do odd jobs around the house - all for free and without complaint - and i'll stop asking you to pay me for doing my job. fair?
we have 25 server, 3 million members, 17 employees, 20+ professional content creators, and many many people who enjoy our services. it's expensive to run a big organization that provides all of the services that we do. this isn't a charity. it's not some huge corporate yahoo games junk site funded by public stock offerings. this is a small business trying to do big things and that costs money.
if you can't pay, the least you can do is not complain when we give you a nudge every once in a while. i know that's hard to understand when you're 18 and probably not out from under your parents' wallet yet, but some day when you're out grinding it out at a job, you'll be asking people to pay for things. and you'll appreciate when they do. and you'll appreciate when they don't, but are kind about it.
LOL
Way to tell him Erik!
I think what Eric said Is a good thing for you to take in mind Vip~
Phew.
Just to clear it up - my name is referring to an Acura Legend. VIP is a "car style" of sorts. Yes, I bought the car myself, no I have not had the money to do anything "VIP." And yes, I have had a job from the age of 14. Definitely not free-loading. :)
Not that any of that matters anyway.
I'm merely throwing my thoughts out there and taking care and showing respect by not being malicious or rude. I hope the majority of who commented do not represent the rest of the chess.com community, that would be very disappointing.
To address Eric : I do understand the site has to be paid for somehow and I was always under the impression the memberships were enough (plus whatever else). That impression was obviously given by the lack of advertisements when I first joined. I have seen no formal explanation of the sudden advertising either.
The new site advertisements are not done tastefully and it seems there was no care to take into account the ones who cannot spend the money on a membership. I'm sure a vast majority, possibly even you, could agree on that. If chess.com is in need of extra income, more thought and care should be put into those who frequent the site. For instance, if possible, chess.com could restrict the pop-up advertisements, the audio advertisements and the flashy distracting advertisements. Also, (I apologize if I overlooked something) possibly some explanation to the chess.com community as to why they (the no-paid-membership members) are going to be bombarded with advertisements would be nice.
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Moreover, if you disagree with me, do so intelligently and with some amount of dignity. I'm surprised some of you claim to be older than me!
Again, I still have no intention of being rude or malicious, I'm just trying to generate discussion on the topic.
Jan 25, 2011
0
#14
wow what kind of a reponse is that from a 14 year old, ads is ads is one way of making money for this website, so do you expect ?
LegendVIP wrote:
Moreover, if you disagree with me, do so intelligently and with some amount of dignity. I'm surprised some of you claim to be older than me!
Again, I still have no intention of being rude or malicious, I'm just trying to generate discussion on the topic.
Is it just me, or are these two statements somewhat contradictory?
Jan 25, 2011
0
#16
I said nothing unintelligent or indignant ;)
And check your messages - there is one in there about how after 7-10 days of no ads on the site we turn them on and let you know how to remove them.
Your original post sounded less like generating discussion and a lot more like complaining and gift-horse-in-the-mouth-looking. Thus my rather forward reply.
erik wrote:
I said nothing unintelligent or indignant ;) And check your messages - there is one in there about how after 7-10 days of no ads on the site we turn them on and let you know how to remove them. Your original post sounded less like generating discussion and a lot more like complaining and gift-horse-in-the-mouth-looking. Thus my rather forward reply.
I missed that message completely, and I appreciate that there was a message sent out explaining the advertisements.
However, the key point is I do think they are done tastelessly. With no real respect for those who cannot pay for the memberships. And so I'll reiterate my idea for filtering out the more distracting and obnoxious advertisements. I've been on plenty of websites that have advertisements but they aren't the in-your-face obnoxious advertisements.
However, if you cannot filter the advertisements in some way without losing money, that's understandable of course.
Thank you for your responses, Erik.
Get Mozilla or Chrome and use AdBlockPlus.
LegendVIP wrote:
...
I think it's wrong to force people pay a membership to enjoy a game of chess.
...
And I happen to think it's generous to provide a place where anyone can enjoy a game of chess against a diverse set of skilled international opponents asking only that you endure a little online advertising and the occasional prod to upgrade your membership.
I'm not clear at what point anyone's been forced to pay anything for something that's provided for free on this site.
I was okay with the "PLEASE BUY OUR PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP" advertisements on the site when I was previously a member (this is my second account I've had)...
However, these new advertisements have taken it too far I believe. The advertisements belong on a trashy site somewhere only caring about profits.
I think it's wrong to force people pay a membership to enjoy a game of chess. It's difficult to enjoy logging in and making moves in my correspondence chess games when I'm being bombarded with pop-up advertisements, audio advertisements, and unintellectual, distracting, flashing advertisements on the page.
As a result of these wrongs I have observed, I WILL NOT be purchasing a new premium membership until those who cannot afford memberships are treated with the same respect as those who can.
Just my quick "two-cents." Please over-look and grammatical errors and the like!