To play in real time please consider the live chess settings.
As to vacation time it should always be allowed. Some tournaments go for a very long period of time and it would be impossible to not expect some players to need some time away from a series of games for a week at a time.
I realize that many people like to beat the "no vacation" drum from time to time, however I suspect that most players do not have issues with this.
Learn the traditions of correspondence play before you criticize them. Two years for one game is the old norm, now almost unimaginable to turn-based players.
To play in real time please consider the live chess settings.
As to vacation time it should always be allowed. Some tournaments go for a very long period of time and it would be impossible to not expect some players to need some time away from a series of games for a week at a time.
I realize that many people like to beat the "no vacation" drum from time to time, however I suspect that most players do not have issues with this.
Thanks for your comment Lucena and I do not disagree with your points but please notice I did not say "no vacation time" I suggested limited or at least realistic vacation time. Do you not agree that if you are planning on a long vacation period right before a tournament that the right thing to do would be to wait for the next tournament?? Just thinking out loud here.
Cheers.
My vacation time automatically turns on when I have 30 minutes left to move. I find that super duper, when I'm out for the weekend and return on Sunday night.
But then again, it is easier to join a tournament, then take a vacation. It's easier to use your vacation time then to wait for the proper time to play in one.
But then again, you shouldn't be playing tournaments in the first place, if you're taking so much vacation time.
But then again...
Just kidding.
P.S. I'm a member of the Rapid Chess, which is just like Rapid Players I suppose.
Looks like a opened a touchy can o worms here. My apologies, as I in no way want to mess with any of the traditions of the worlds greatest game. I too have played games that have lasted months but they were played out on a real chessboard. I was only thinking out loud about the issue of cheating in the computer age and possible ways to eradicate it. I would would just hate to lose to someone who takes their time and then uses this time to cheat.
Cheers.
It's not as though someone needs to make a days-long pilgrimage to the Oracle of Caissa at Delphi just to cheat. (?) With Fritz or whatever running alongside your browser, I'm sure a cheater could be quite effective at 10-20 seconds per move, no?
Some people actually still have jobs to earn $$$ US, so occasionally they have to be away, hence vacation time, and the desire to play at a slower more reflective pace...it's good this site provides options.
As a member of the "Fast Players Group" and someone who tends to like to play Chess in "real time", I think a excellent way to prevent or at least diminish cheating (as per Eric'a article) is to limit things like time outs and vacation time during tournament settings. Under a tournament setting it would seem a little suspicious for a person to take a bunch of vacation time only to come back and play the right move. If a tournament has a 1-3 day limit then players should follow this guideline or not participate. I accidently joined a move/15 day game and it is driving me insane. Let's hear it for quick and realistic play.
This post is ridiculous on so many levels.
1) If you're cheating, the length of time taken on a move has NOTHING to do with it. What's it take, 30 seconds to consult a computer? It's not like I have to go program ENIAC.
2) Here's what never fails to amaze me in these cheating posts: you're a 1300 player!! If someone is cheating, they're going to be playing at a MUCH higher level than that. I would bet that 98% of the people banned for cheating are playing at least at a 2300+ level here. So take off the tinfoil hat already -- the people who spend the most time here accusing their opponents of foul play are usually the ones least likely to be victimized.
3) Finally, once again, enough with the vacation bitching. I do not play to your schedule, and it's YOUR fault for not looking at the time controls when you agreed to the match -- nobody else's.
my, my...chess does bring out the self-righteous spirit in people =)
maybe what is needed to make everybody happy is simply for tourniments to have the options of either allowing or not allowing vacation time that way everybody could join which ever one suits them the best.
Playing fast has nothing to do with not cheating. Only takes a few moments to check Rybka running in the background.
I guess you never really know how people feel until you get in thier kitchen. I simply made a comment regarding an article written by eric and to tell you the truth I never considered that there are sad sacks out there with self esteem so low they would even consider cheating. Last time I checked no employer has asked me if I have a 2000+ rating. All kidding aside this has been very informative and eye opening.
Thanks to all that responded
Sunkenchess
That's only one of the reasons why Chess.com is a great site - you can find games and tournaments in the time schedule that suits you! 
Learn the traditions of correspondence play before you criticize them. Two years for one game is the old norm, now almost unimaginable to turn-based players.
Sounds like a fellow old geezer here ! I played postal/correspondence chess back when we used real post cards and I had some opponents " behind the iron curtain" before the wall came down ! You wanna talk about looooooong games ?! A fast game playing like that would be 1 year. Normal would be more than one year and long games were 3 years and sometimes more ! At one point I had a maximum of about 50 games going like this ! I wonder if anyone today still plays postal chess this way? 
Learn the traditions of correspondence play before you criticize them. Two years for one game is the old norm, now almost unimaginable to turn-based players.
Sounds like a fellow old geezer here ! I played postal/correspondence chess back when we used real post cards and I had some opponents " behind the iron curtain" before the wall came down ! You wanna talk about looooooong games ?! A fast game playing like that would be 1 year. Normal would be more than one year and long games were 3 years and sometimes more ! At one point I had a maximum of about 50 games going like this ! I wonder if anyone today still plays postal chess this way?
I still play real postal chess. Opponents are getting decidedly thin on the ground though. I have only one postal game going at present although I have some email games as well.
I have been wondering if email chess and turn based chess had put the old postal chess ( actually by post ) completely out of business ?! I was taught when young the only constant in life is change and the older I get the more truth/wisdom I see in that ! I miss the old soda fountains of my youth and the drive in movies that used to be everywhere and I took them for granted , now they are hard to find.
I've wondered why there isn't a "live" on-line chess. It would be pretty simple to pull off. Upon clicking on "your move" there could be a timer--if you don't move before the timer runs out...well, too bad.
I'm in one tournament with a 15 day time limit; just about everybody is finished except one player who is obviously using the time as part of an overall tactic. Better players give up in frustration, resigning rather than waiting him out. Generally this site allows for difference in time schedules; a great asset.
Cheating? The only one you really cheat is yourself 'cause you're true ability eventually gets proven or you're caught.
Learn the traditions of correspondence play before you criticize them. Two years for one game is the old norm, now almost unimaginable to turn-based players.
Sounds like a fellow old geezer here ! I played postal/correspondence chess back when we used real post cards and I had some opponents " behind the iron curtain" before the wall came down ! You wanna talk about looooooong games ?! A fast game playing like that would be 1 year. Normal would be more than one year and long games were 3 years and sometimes more ! At one point I had a maximum of about 50 games going like this ! I wonder if anyone today still plays postal chess this way?
I'm a child, not yet 50. Still, I'm old enough to remember postcards, which I last sent with in the late 1990s. After completely botching the 1998 Golden Knights, I took some time off from correspondence play. When I returned, I played on servers (Net-Chess was my first) and email (I still have two such games going).
I didn't have the pleasure of international play with postcards, but server and email chess have always had that international dimension.
I've wondered why there isn't a "live" on-line chess. It would be pretty simple to pull off. Upon clicking on "your move" there could be a timer--if you don't move before the timer runs out...well, too bad.
There is: http://www.chess.com/livechess/index.html :-)
I assume you mean timed turn-based chess. I think the reason is that it is to easy to cheat the counter. Log in, Alt + Prt Scr, Shutdown browser, Open Paint, Ctrl + V, Pick a move, Log back in, make move.
That way you get almost unlimited time.
As a member of the "Fast Players Group" and someone who tends to like to play Chess in "real time", I think a excellent way to prevent or at least diminish cheating (as per Eric'a article) is to limit things like time outs and vacation time during tournament settings. Under a tournament setting it would seem a little suspicious for a person to take a bunch of vacation time only to come back and play the right move. If a tournament has a 1-3 day limit then players should follow this guideline or not participate. I accidently joined a move/15 day game and it is driving me insane. Let's hear it for quick and realistic play.
Cheers
Sunkenchess