Inflation,Poor get poorer ,chesser get lesser

I am realizing that  also other members will miss out if they  do not subscribe or subscribe cause former opponents  will  not have acess to their stats or maybe I guess just  the non subscribers.*~ .So it is like regesistering for  F.I.S.C. with out an  Admin approved email or paid email service,guest status and unrated games forever< I am happy F.I.C.S. is an.org live and another is a free online CC game competition  email site probably lose the gremlins next.  ...........wow!

It is very simple, it doesn't feel right to charge you on somthing that was once free (like stas). It is like every commercial company that catch you in her claws in attractive campaigns, and than raise the prices. This is not the spirit of the internet, and certainly not the spirit of chess.

thanks. I had to compromise on night_knight because there is a member named nightknight...

Do you know what the 'com' part of chess.com is short for?  This is the spirit of the internet.  It's why the internet is successful.  If companies couldn't turn a profit, they wouldn't bother with online services.  Without the advances made by pouring those profits back into the sites, where would the internet be?  It would still be a handful of tech nerds(no offense, guys) sending each other porn.  The chess.com staff needs to get paid for this site somehow.  Without income, they couldn't possibly hope to sustain the site that we've come to love.  There would be no money to pay the developers, so nothing new would ever be implemented.  There'd be no money for the staff themselves.  They'd have to get other jobs to pay for their homes, food, etc.  If they did that, the site would go to hell.  Perhaps you think that, somewhere in silicon valley, there's a building where site owners can go to get unlimited free money.  I lived in the area for a long time, and I've never seen such a place.  Everybody who keeps talking about Evil Erik is pissing me off.  If I were in his shoes, I'd be a bit less patient.  I'd start booting people off the site for fun.  I actually would delete all of your precious game archives.  Then, I'd go to all of your homes, eat all your food, drink all your booze, and start yelling at you for being shitty hosts.

Don't get that angry silnetfilmstar13. I am well aware of the fact that you need money in this world. I don't think that any of the people that run this site is evil or greedy. I think that is the best chess site, and I am very grateful to Erik and his friends. But, a lott of commercial internet sites are profitable, and they still gave their services for free. I guess you are using Yahoo or Google, right? When you use their services you don't have to spend a dime. They are making their money from advertisement and they are doing well.

The point is that it is not completely fair to give somthing for free, and than starting charge for it.  

Yahoo and Google are providing very different services.  They reach such a wide audience that they can bring in top dollar for their advertisements.  Also, both sites have premium features, very similar to Chess.com(where the needs of the average chess player are provided for free).

Well, again you don't answer to main point. Is it fair to give something for free, and than start charging for it? I can see the economic side, but not the moral side.  

I think chess.com have been pretty upfront about letting us kow what features were likely to become 'premium' features at some time in the future.

As for giving something for free and then charging.  Well, in the UK, most people would be familiar with the phrase 'try before you buy'. 

No one is forcing you to pay for a premium membership.  If you don't like it then don't pay it.  Simple.

Yes, I think it's perfectly fair.  If I buy my friend a beer, am I obligated to buy his beers from that point on?

I think your take on this is wrong. Look at it as software: before we where working with Beta software, freely available to the public, to test it and get feedback.

Now everything is working (amazingly in my opinion), and therefore they start to charge for some of their services.

Charging for untested and bad software = Wrong.

Allowing people to access it for free with a disclaimer that it will require a subscription when testing is complete = Good practice.

In my book chess.com did everything right

Also in Israel you can 'try before you buy', but wasn't the case here. They didn't say somthing like: "you have six months for free, and if you will like our product you can buy it". What they did was to give you somthing for free and than one day, suddenly, they start charging you for it. imagine what would you feel if you will start paying for your e-mail box. would you find that fair? 

That is not correct, the chess.com team had a notice stating that what features might become limited to premium members only.

You might have missed it, but it was on the panel on the right.

In that case it is my fault. I didn't see a massage that say that some services are temporarly free, and will be charged in the future. 

I'm upset too!!

I came here because I could play chess online for free and now all of a sudden..no wait.. I can still play chess online for free here, nevermind.

Man, hosting, and other things, COST MONEY, this space wasn't given for free..

And you can still play online.. only the stats and your games archives.. (which you can save inmediately after finishing any game)

 If you don't agree to pay then don't pay.

neneko, you are certainly right, the impotant thing is playing. But what if it's a slippery slope? what if tommorow you will have to pay for playing? It is the direction the net goes, and we don't have to let it happen

That is the great thing about the web, if you don't like what you see, start your own chess site.

Frankly, I have a great deal of confidence that chess on chess.com will remain free. It has never been a secret that eric and the others needed to earn money from this and I think that they have handled it tastefully.

Instead of complaining over the loss of some minor features, lets show the team our appreciation for creating a great community with a lot of nice free features.