Yes i'm seeing them too....the site is getting more and more commerical....now it even opens a new window. So they get money from advertisers whether were a member or not. It's a great chess site, but they're selling out for the ad money. Maybe that's what it takes to keep this site up....but somewhere they hit a profit goal...and changed their own mission statement. Its partly why I cancelled my membership....liked it more when it was simple...
whats with all the pop ups on chess.com
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u r right aidan.. the site has to make money. ads is one way of doing so. think the developer made this site just for the hick of it?
Sounds to me like people are complaining about free gifts again...
It reminds me of Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson gives away this $1000+ car for free, and then finds out he is being sued because he said it was the '87 model when it was the '85 (or something similar). This is just as rediculous.
In my opinion, chess.com is doing the right thing. You have to keep this site going. You need money from premium members to get money to come up with new features and staff members. When the memberships are not enough, advertising in an effective way to gain revenue. It may be a small annoyance for non-paying members, but the site is free and therefore they have nothing to complain about.
Apr 17, 2009
0
#27
did anyone consider this from our perspective? that maybe in these tough economic times with ad revenues in decline and fewer people getting memberships that things are getting harder for us? or did you think about maybe i had a reality-check conversation with my wife about why i haven't paid myself any money in the last few months because i'm not making any? or did anyone stop to say "wow, check out what chess.com has done lately. they have added all these really great free articles from GMs and IMs." those aren't free. so maybe we should get rid of the popups and at the same time make these kinds of articles premium...?
we experimented with in-line text ads (you know the ones that create links on forum posts etc) and people didn't like them. and they were always there and annoying so we got rid of them. we also haven't done interstitials (which make you wait on a full-page ad before you continue on) like gamespot.com, ign, or many other sites. and we don't put ads in the middle of our articles or forum posts. but a popunder? come on. it's not even a popup (on top of your screen) so you probably don't even know it's there until after you leave the site and then it takes 10 seconds to close (if your popup blocker hasn't already stopped it).
finally, it's not like chess.com is the only site with popunders. try cnn.com. or imdb.com. or the wall street journal. or most major travel sites. or any of the thousands of other small websites out there like chess.com who are busting tail to provide a service for free while making little to no money only to have people complain about having to spend 10 seconds of inconvenience after enjoying hours of free entertainment.
i don't like popups. i don't like ads at all. that's why we give you a super cheap option to get rid of them with low-cost memberships. but i'm not working 60+ hours a week as a hobby, and i doubt you are. we add more features, more content, and more users each day, and all that costs money - and probably much much more than you think. so if you don't value your chess.com more than the cost of a hamburger each month, or enough to spend 10 seconds to close a popup, then i don't know what to tell you. 
(PS - you shouldn't be getting more than 1-2 popunders a day, and they should not make noise or show inappropriate material. if you are experiencing something different from this, please let us know so we can look into it)
grensley wrote:
It's really annoying. I never thought that chess.com would sink to that level.
yup.
Apr 17, 2009
0
#29
Keep up the good work Erik.....Being a paying member of this site costs less than 9 cents a day....and you don't get the popunders. This is a BARGAIN! I agree with oliebol....money on the internet always seems to be worth 100x more. $2.49 per month is less than a happy-meal at Mickey-D's. Always remember free-loaders....TANSTAAFL (Google it!).
erik wrote:
did anyone consider this from our perspective? that maybe in these tough economic times with ad revenues in decline and fewer people getting memberships that things are getting harder for us? or did you think about maybe i had a reality-check conversation with my wife about why i haven't paid myself any money in the last few months because i'm not making any? or did anyone stop to say "wow, check out what chess.com has done lately. they have added all these really great free articles from GMs and IMs." those aren't free. so maybe we should get rid of the popups and at the same time make these kinds of articles premium...?
we experimented with in-line text ads (you know the ones that create links on forum posts etc) and people didn't like them. and they were always there and annoying so we got rid of them. we also haven't done interstitials (which make you wait on a full-page ad before you continue on) like gamespot.com, ign, or many other sites. and we don't put ads in the middle of our articles or forum posts. but a popunder? come on. it's not even a popup (on top of your screen) so you probably don't even know it's there until after you leave the site and then it takes 10 seconds to close (if your popup blocker hasn't already stopped it).
finally, it's not like chess.com is the only site with popunders. try cnn.com. or imdb.com. or the wall street journal. or most major travel sites. or any of the thousands of other small websites out there like chess.com who are busting tail to provide a service for free while making little to no money only to have people complain about having to spend 10 seconds of inconvenience after enjoying hours of free entertainment.
i don't like popups. i don't like ads at all. that's why we give you a super cheap option to get rid of them with low-cost memberships. but i'm not working 60+ hours a week as a hobby, and i doubt you are. we add more features, more content, and more users each day, and all that costs money - and probably much much more than you think. so if you don't value your chess.com more than the cost of a hamburger each month, or enough to spend 10 seconds to close a popup, then i don't know what to tell you.
(PS - you shouldn't be getting more than 1-2 popunders a day, and they should not make noise or show inappropriate material. if you are experiencing something different from this, please let us know so we can look into it)
way to go erik!
Apr 17, 2009
0
#31
I don't know about you Erik, but I love working for free!! I'm writing a letter now to our host & datacenter complaining and asking how dare they have the nerve to actually charge us to use their bandwidth and power! Its an outrage! I wonder if everyone would still complain if we closed the site tomorrow and there were no more forums to complain on???? :D
(PS - The site won't be closing tomorrow...or the next day....or the day after...)
Well I get ads and I'm a premium member! (No pop-ups but still...)
jay wrote:
I don't know about you Erik, but I love working for free!! I'm writing a letter now to our host & datacenter complaining and asking how dare they have the nerve to actually charge us to use their bandwidth and power! Its an outrage! I wonder if everyone would still complain if we closed the site tomorrow and there were no more forums to complain on???? :D
(PS - The site won't be closing tomorrow...or the next day....or the day after...)
After everyone has had a bitch they will find the way to their tool settings and make the adjustments required to remove the cause of their frustrations.
They may even work out that they could have done it in the time they spent typing their moan
WTG Erik LOL
i use firefox and it blocks almost all of'em i get one pop up per day although i still connected most of the time
in these tough ecomomic times i have had to switch to cheap wine and i'd forclose on my home before i stop paying chess.com. these guys provide amazing content and deserve compensation.
anyone here for free should shut up or pay up!
i keep getting this scottsmoneyblog.com pop up.
Apr 17, 2009
0
#37
funny - most people complaining are teens still living off of mommy and daddy. once they get out of the house and start working they will realize that nothing in life is free and that everyone deserves fair compensation for their efforts. until then... enjoy the bubble of immaturity! :)
i think chess.com should make the ads as annoying as possible to get people to pay for the site. the only people they might lose are freeloaders (me) and this might work to get people to pay. it is a dangerous proposition though since ad revenue probably helps and if a lot of people leave the site the ads will be less valuable. this could turn into a cycle so I think Erik has implemented this as conservitively as possible. coming from a cheap member you could add some more ads and that wouldn't bother me. just as long as it doesn't turn into a porn type deal....I would still go to this site anyways 
I don't notice the ads. So they are not getting their money's worth.
sohowgoodami wrote:
I am using internet explorer and it blocks them all, just have to temp enable it if I want to use any of the site pop ups.
Anyway if it earns the site more money I will live with the hastle to play free!
You have a point !I only started getting them after I switched to firefox on chess . com recomendation . WHATS THAT ALL ABOUT?
The things people will do to avoid spending $2.49 a month ... it's funny how on the internet a dollar seems to be worth about 100 times as much.
I use Firefox with AdBlock plus, I haven't seen a single ad online for literally years (before or after my membership to chess.com).