Why I refuse to pay for membership.

Twice in a row already I have had people abandon a game because they were losing. They couldn't just resign and accept their loss with dignity. They have to waste my time. And yet there is no way of reporting these players. The only option for reporting is if you are being harassed. Otherwise, you have to simply sit there and wait for the time to come up in which a message pops up saying that the other play MAY HAVE violated their fair play policy and that their account will be reported. Yeah. Fat chance. In the mean time, my time is being wasted by some chump who is too ashamed to just resign. The one time I brought this up to a member of staff was during a 30 minute game in which the other player refused to move. You know what they told me? Play shorter games. WHAT? There is a reason I play 30 minute games. I'm not a strong enough player to play 10 minute games and I'm crap in blitz. I need time to think about my moves. I admit this and I'm not ashamed of it. Why should I have to play a shorter game because other people don't know how to take a loss? And this is why I will NEVER pay for a membership. Why do I want to pay to have my time wasted? There is no option for reporting these people other than leaving a note on their profile. A whole lot of good that does. If this keeps up, I'll just end up leaving the site completely. Chess.com seriously needs to have an option for reporting people like this on the spot because this is getting ridiculous. The last person I played didn't even have a bad connection. In fact, their connection was better than mine. So that is no excuse.

If you're fed up with people with bad manners in live chess, you may want to give ICC a try : the courtesy level is better there.

Actually chess.com has established a special ratings pool where the worst offenders of the fair play policy are forced to play each other, so they're doing their best.  As an experiment someone made a thread where he deliberately disconnected many times in a row, or simply walked away from games to see if that pool actually existed.  He did end up in it and reported they were the worst group of people he had ever had the displeasure of interacting with in his life.  So the worst of the scum are gone.

• We avoid matching players who have poor internet connections with those who have solid connections.
        • We avoid matching players who frequently just disconnect or quit without resigning (aka "Fair Play") with those who finish their games properly.
        • We avoid matching players who are rude or abusive with those who are kind.

You might also consider joining some groups like the Dan Heisman Learning Center where folks really want to play slow chess.  NM Aww-Rats has a similar group (Slow Chess League maybe?).

i agree with baddogno. Joining the slow chess groups is the way to go.

zugzwang67 runs a superb group all by himself. heres the link.

http://www.chess.com/groups/view/slow-live-chess-association

Since when does a specific career merit how valuable one's time is? It has nothing to do with being pompous. Everyone's time is precious and nobody has a right to waste anybody's time, regardless of their career. So the only one who sounds pompous is you. 

I'll definitely look in to one of those groups. It's better advice than that staff member gave me. Thank you.

Quoting only part of what I said. Good job. Way to be productive. I would now refer you to the asshat meme. 

The ads don't really bother me. Never have. Even on sites like YouTube. I don't even use an ad-blocker. They've just never been that big of a hassle to me. As for the other benefits, they are the only reason why I would ever consider paying for a membership. Especially all of the options available for improving your game (such as reviewing a game, special lessons, etc.). Whether or not the membership is cheap, however is entirely subjective. I consider the prices reasonable. But others may not.

that is only one of many problems with chess.com-being forced to play black five to eight times in a row, being dc' d and then having to take a loss in rating points for something that's not your fault, applying for open seeks and then being told the game was already started by someone else, and the problem you mentioned, playing some butt hole who is not man enough to resign a lost postition, all these things go to make it a miserable site.

When you agree to a thirty minute game you are agreeing to give 30 mins of your time to your opponent for him to make his moves, and he is doing the same for you.  You are both allowed to use your clocks how you see fit.  It is spiteful to just sit there and watch the clock tick down instead of resign, and every time you play you are running the risk of someone doing that to you.  It sucks, but there's just no other way to do it. If that risk is too great for you, you shouldn't agree to the game.

I'm always suprised how many people make it seem like this happens to them all the time.  I've experienced it, but it is pretty rare so the risk is worth the reward for me.

Quick funny story:  yesterday in a 30 min. game at move 9 my opponent stopped moving with 28 mins left on his clock.  I watched some other games while the clock just ticked away, and with 2 min left on his clock he made a move, and we continued the game.  Needless to say he lost on time.  I think maybe he was hoping I wouldn't be there to continue.  It's a real crappy thing to do, but it's so rare for me to experience that it's just a funny story.

And yet my "ranting" has garnered me productive comments that have actually gone the way of helping me with my problem (see baddogno and aerodarts) as where you have offered up absolutely nothing. Maybe one day you can be as useful and productive as them. 

Other than people DCing when they should just resign, I have not really had any of the other problems you mentioned. Once or twice I've run across the "game has already been started" but that's it. I'm not sure if I've ever been stuck with playing the same color multiple times in a row. I'd have to go check my game history to be sure but I don't think so. 

It happens to some people more than it does others, apparently. This is a frequent problem I've had. But I've had similar situations to the story you just told. I have no problem spending 30 minutes playing a game so long as the game is actually being played. But to leave the chat when you are losing or are faced with an inevitable checkmate is, as you said simply spiteful and a crappy thing to do. 

Why i have no diamond is easy = no cash  LOL.

Monthly internet - $20

Yearly membership to Chess.com - $25

Pointless unimportant forum rants - priceless

You should report that guy.  I used your history to see who that was and I notice that he has a note on his profile about doing that. Chess.com has the move time data and can verify your claim that he didn't move until there were 2 minutes left. Throw him into the pool with the other Foul Players.

Pfftt $25, not willing to spend that much lol, college = expensive lol.

Why do you think anyone cares if you pay for a membership or not? Get a life.

Oh yeah, there's that too.

YOu go to a $25 university?