My Anniversary is next month.

me too, except im betting for AWARDCHESS

sad... just sad... no money, and passion to cheating in chess, sounds like a mental issue...

less anger please, you were just thnking chess.com for giving you a place to do whatever you like to do on it, if it's playing chess or not...

and then a sudden burst of anger over pokemon adds, listen to some classical music when at chess.com if you can't hold your emotions and think reasonably after a cute pokemon jumps on you...

Hey Pathetic_1. You seem to be pretty smart, so I'm asking for your scholarly advice. I would like to know how to run a free website that can host HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF GUESTS like this one does. I have some ideas for web sites that I would like to create/run so if you know how to make this magic pot of gold appear under the rainbow, let me know k? BTW, your computer is the one who is passionate about chess, it plays more games than you do ; )  Myself, I kinda feel like a thief, taking advantage of all this wonderful chess content and paying nothing. That is why I try to contribute (try it sometime, it is fun) by helping other players on the site by sharing my humble chess knowledge so that others can improve.

Ah, even me, a mere patzer, spend mroe then 1 hour a week at MY chess club. Where is my cash?

I have a question, Does it NOT make anyone at least a teeny tiny upset that all of a sudden certain "HOT" words in your post are linked to an advertisement? The last 2 posts by chessroshi and mowque have 3 words linked to ads. "Advice" takes me to a search engine, "Free" takes me to a credit card site, and "cash takes me to an insurance site.  Of course I would never ever ever click on those ads because of the money that gets transfered.

I have another question: where does it end? At what point will the people revolt? Will this turn into a "mapquest" where 85% of the visible space is FLASH ADS which 1) Bogs the site down to a snail's pace, and 2) makes it a 10 minute ordeal just to sift through the CRAP to get to the content?

I'll make a prediction...and you all know that my predictions are based on logic and common sense and are about 84.2% accurate. Over the next 6 months, you will see some already FREE CONTENT on this site shift to PREMIUM CONTENT. Mark my words people. What is free today will NOT be free tomorrow. Remember, I am in my mid 40's. I was THERE when the internet went online in 1991. I have seen 'em come and go. I have seen it all.

Perhaps this will be one of the 15.8% of the time when I am wrong. Dont bet against me though.

ANYWAY, the countdown begins to my one year anniverary here. T-minus 1 month. And that is something to be happy about.

And now back to our quandry. How to make something from nothing? Web sites are not a free enterprise for those who run them! Anyone with any net-knowledge is aware of this. For ANY service that you are provided, (be it in a real world application like someone mowing your lawn, cooking you food at a restaurant, etc. or in the cyber world, which, while a little more abstract, runs exactly the same capital wise), you are expected to pay for this service! In a utopian world where computers, electric bills, bandwidth, employees all rendered their services for free, you could still have free sites. We live in a practical world though, so these ideas, although nice, are in no way gonna happen. If you think Erik and the great site he and his staff provide you with for FREE is out of line, go right now to Wal-mart and tell them you want something for free, perhaps some milk or a bicycle! Welcome to earth space cowboy, it's nice down here. Stop Complaining and do something useful!! I'm about to send you a free box of tissue to wipe your constantly crying eyes.

cheater_1: i'm going to delete every thread you start or comment you make until you respond to this comment you made.

either:

a) take that bet, or

b) admit you were wrong, or

c) have every post/thread/comment you start deleted

abuse of my powers? maybe. but when you come in like a bull in a china shop you should be prepared to deal with the guy who owns the china. :)

Well said erik! And I like the picture

Happy anniversary. Almost.

Please for the love of all things on earth, let it be option c) ...

I LOVE YOU Cheater.

When you gonna answer Erik cheater_1?

cheater_1 should have been named troll_1.

There is only one way to deal with trolls: if you ignore them, they will eventually go away.

If cheater_1 angers you, the best thing you can do is just ignore him.

i thought you were not supposed to be abusive.

I must say that the ads from random words in posts is a bit excessive on the annoying side (but i guess that means it was a brilliant idea in terms of ads) but Cheater_1 has pushed his strings too much this thread.  No reason to suggest such a silly thing like Erik planning this to make $$$$.  I bet when he created this site he was probably expecting to lose some money, expecially in terms of his time devoted to this site, than actually gaining from it.  And theres no way he didn't play chess and lacked a passion for it beforehand.  Dont' push his buttons... because he is the one with the remote control.

I NOW deem it time to answer ERIK. And I only do so NOW because it suits me. As to demand B, I cannot and will not admit I was wrong because there really is no way to prove I am right or I am wrong. It's MOOT.

As to demand C, CENSOR me, HA, I knew it'd come to that sooner or later. You are correct, it will show an extreme abuse of power. You have alot to gain, though, by doing so because the vast majority of the people here will say, "It's about time". Disagree with someone...SILENCE THEM. Dont like someone's opinion.....MUZZLE em. You have threatened me since day one with your power. You have shown your true colors both by your egomaniacal ways and your outright LYING to me personally about our vote chess game (not granting me a vacation). I have lost all respect for you since then. Can you tell?

As to demand A, have you ever known me to go back on my word? Of course you haven't. I DONT. I stick to my words: I'll bet there is not a passion for CHESS in their personal and private lives. Before this site, I'll bet money that not one of the people involved in this site devoted more than 1 hour per week of their own time playing chess. I'LL PUT MONEY ON THAT ONE!!!

The problem, ERIK, is that I have made an accusation and neither of us can prove or disprove the other. Therein lies my GENIUS. I'll take the bet. And just what do you plan to do about it?

Cheater, I (and many others) have played Erik, and if you had the "smalls" to do the same, you would see he is committed to the game, and puts a lot of time into playing for the sake of doing so......

ironically, I agree you should not be "censored".....it would just make a martyr of you.....also, your own words should be allowed to exist for prosperity, just to prove what kind of a person you really are......

what is the money amount? i know you think you're clever, and maybe sometimes you are, but in this case you made a mistake. i certainly have ample proof which i can provide. and after i provide that i will expect the monetary reward AND the admission that i am right. name the money amount and then i will email you an embarrassingly overwhelming amount of proof.

as for me being a TYRANT, i'm sure that 99.5% of people on this site would disagree with you. i only make outlandish statements to combat your wild bombastic mannerisms.

(p.s. i don't like that you are trying to distort the truth about our vote chess game - you were going to let the game timeout and claim the win because you had lost. your own actions forced my hand. you NEVER asked for vacation time before you made your horrible blunder. don't try and turn your cowardice and self-denial into some victimization ploy.)

  Kudos..Cheater, good points, well laid facts ! But I'll agree with Eric that u made a mistake in the mean time here at the forum !

   And, great way  handling Cheater, Eric !

here is how this will work. i will send my evidence to cheater_1 via email. he will get a chance to investigate and ask questions. he then has 2 choices:

a) pay me money and publicly admit he was wrong, or

b) go to trial. i will select 10 chess.com members with whom i have no personal affiliation. i will give cheater_1 some ability to veto my selections within reason. they will then be presented with all of the evidence. they can then decide who is correct. if cheater_1 is correct i will award him a Diamond membership. if i am correct i will immediately shut off access to cheater_1's account and post a public message on his profile about the jury conclusion, and cheater_1 will never be allowed back on the website.

i imagine most people will want this to go to trial. i sure do :)