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I am really surprised at Chess.com, it's a classy site and I am disappointed they have made the decision to totally ruin free chess with distracting advertisements. I am not talking about  run of the mill adverts. I accept those, I don't pay. But to totally ruin games with fast moving, flashing adverts is really tacky. 

It does not tempt me to pay to avoid the adverts, it makes me want to leave a site that uses such tactics. Shame on the marketing team, I was considering becoming a paying member but this latest move has made me reconsider. I hope others will make the same decision as I have if chess.com continues with this strategy.

I guess you're saying you'd prefer the ads to be more subdued and less annoying than what they currently are?  Have you considered mailing support and asking?  

Though honestly, this is chess.com after all ... unless Erik sees a business reason (losing a potential customer base, including the free accounts), he's really not going to miss you or me.

Update: Have you explored all the annoyance-blocking plugins on your browser to improve your user experience? 

For example, I'm running a free account with Chrome using Popup Blocker Classic and Adblock plus (which is quite lethal at dealing with annoying ads)  ... I seem to have a fairly pleasant time.

Wait, I'm confused. You say you were considering becoming a paid member, which gets rid of ads, but now you don't want to... because the ads are annoying.

Why not download AdBlock? I use it for Google Chrome and since downloading it haven't seen an ad on ANY site. And since it doesn't affect the revenue chess.com gets from those ads, it's a win/win for both you and them.

^ Wrong! it affect the revenue, the ads are there and if they are blocked they serve no purpose and if they serve no purpose then no more free chess or at least support the site like this needs.

To OP, pay or handle the ads. I do and so do many... nothing worse than a demanding freeloader.

Wrong. The ads are pre-paid by the advertiser. Not many advertisers still use per-click payments for their ads because so many people use anti-cookie software and other such programming to block the tracking of what content they are browsing. If you are unfamiliar with how ads work on internet websites I suggest you do a Google search on it.

...and for a follow up, how often do you click on that giant vertical Sprint advertisement while in the middle of a chess game? If Chess.com and the advertisers were depending upon your clicking on that invasive, distracting ad, they'd be better off taking their money and setting it on fire.

If there were a Mr. Obvious trophy, you'd get one.

c.c has had issues with the ads covering the board during games, or, ads taking up more space than the board itself. It's been discussed in other threads. Erik wrote in one of the threads he would stop it, and it seems to be the case-those threads have died.

However...even if the ads are smaller, and to the side of the board, I can understand how it could be a distraction during live play. Here's what gets me. I can understand c.c collecting the revenue. But, even if the ads in live are taking up a large portion of the screen, aren't the users looking at the board in a timed game?

Lol.  Where did you come up with this?

As a Google AdSense customer, I assure you, I only make money on click-throughs.  It doesn't matter what advertisers pay Google and other companies for ads, it only matters how they share that revenue with partners like chess.com...and they share revenue by click-throughs.  Some companies, like Amazon, only share revenue for actual purchases made during the same referred session.  Either way...no clicks, no revenue sharing for chess.com.

So, yes, ads on live games are ridiculous since they will never be clicked and chess.com won't get any real revenue from them, only backlash...

P.S. Does the US Chess League know you are borrowing their logo?

So, you're saying you know that is the model for c.c?

Use adblock on Chrome or another plug-in for other browsers. I honestly don't find those ads distracting when I play with music on. If you don't like it upgrade to premium or join another site...not much you can do if you don't download that plug-in

What are they gonna do, sue me? LOL! It's public domain smart guy. Do you see a copyright logo anywhere on the image?

I'd just like to say "Hey, thanks chess.com for providing me with a free service......BUT! I want you to do even more for me.. Or else... i may just have to leave chess.com"

Try to re-read the OP's post... and really focus this time...

It is not only ads it is PR management

For ex I saw Viktor Kramnik's Facebook advertisement

Khaos Theory, read my post properly. You totally missed my point. 

Thanks to those suggesting the blocker, I'll give it a try, although I am still disappointed at CC using this type of advert in live games.

i am an average player and i enjoy playing free chess but over the last few weeks since adverts showed nxt 2 games i find i cant move my pieces during games but my time keeps ticking down very frustrating especialy when games are nearing end plays.

im a paid member and  u do get some cool features but when i look at my brother when hes playing there all these distracting ads