I find your point of view a little twisted. It is good that Erik is able to reach out to ad agencies to create more revenue. However, if each player on this site was able to commit $3 dollars a month then Erik would not have to reach out so much and could focus on the site wholly.
I am happy to pay for a premium membership. It is an extremely reasonable price for all the benefits. I hope that more people realize what a great deal this is and hop on board.
Listen, I really appreciate this site. For the last year or so, I have seen my chess ability improve dramatically! I realize that the ads posted on this site are the reason that chess.com is still around, and I don't want them to go. So I will not buy a premium membership just so that there's one more person affected by them and so that ad companies will have one more reason to purchase ad space here. Thanks for you concern though guys!