starting with white

it is our job to design a system that is fair to all players. 

A strong argument can be made for "at the beginning" being the right time. Wanting to do things your way may not be best.

A quick glance at your record over the last ten games was enlightening. This spans the last 3 days or so. You had white four times and black six. This is not significantly different from random starting from scratch, and a far cry from "9 outa 10 times."

Your record as white was 1 out of 4 (25%). Your record as black was 2 out of 6 (33%).

I fail to see what your problem with the site change is. Okay, I understand, you prefer to play white -- most beginners do. So, you'll get your chance just like everybody else.

Your ratings gains or losses will still indicate something about your progress, and playing both sides of the board, it should prove to be a more accurate indicator. You're not being hurt in any way by the change, except in being deprived (in your mind) of having things your way. Welcome to the real world. Quit whining and get used to it, there are worse things than having to play a couple of extra games with the black pieces.

Not being able to choose the color is not a horrible thing. If you want to practice with a particular color, then just bear in mind that 50% of your games will be with that color, so be a little patient! You might just have to wait a couple games.

And for those whose patience will be stretched because they have to play many games as (say) Black to even it out, your rating will be fine! You may have a rough stretch of games, and you may do poorly for the first 10 or 20, maybe 25 games, but after that tiny span of time, you will learn to play quite well with Black! Years ago I also shied away from Black because it was out of my element, but now, statistically, I play slightly better with Black than with White!

If you're stuck with Black and need to practice more White openings, then you might have to find another site as a supplement to this one, or else find other OTB opportunities, while this site evens out your color stats. But you do not need to boycott chess.com entirely. That's absurd. Chess is chess, whether you play as White or as Black. Blaming chess.com for a "horrible" change is completely irresponsible and uncalled-for. Some people will turn anyone and anything into a scapegoat.

How was it not fair?  Noone had a problem getting the game they wanted and everyone is here on their own freewill.  Your job is to make this website profitable by giving them a service they want...not telling them what they need. 

 Im happy that you like the new setup, I dont...thanks for the life lesson tho dad.

As for you're stats, they are not very scientific.  You looked at ten games, way too small a sample, and didnt mention the ratings of the players i were facing. 

oddly enough, the one complaining the most about getting white half the time and black half the time is significantly below average rated - beginner level, to say the least.

It's all psychological.  The win percents and actual advantage don't mean a thing to beginners of course -- the comfort of always choosing the first move to somewhat narrow the openings, and some silly stuff like getting used to your king being on the right (does this even happen?  I'm guessing heh) and just enjoying the privilege of getting to move first.

Related story:
When I was little there was a kid who had to be the "first player" when he played video games (I think he was 5 or 6).  Once while we were playing he looked away and I switched the controllers, and we kept playing for 5 or so minutes (the game didn't matter which player you were), then he realized he was the 2nd player and started crying so I had to give it back.

U should all come off your high horse and focus on the point...which is, you should have a choice.

I don't necessarily disagree.

If 80% (or some high number) of live players were trying to be white I could understand, but ultimately it's up to the site.  Maybe after a while they'll decide to change it back?

You should NOT have a choice.

A rugby team can't choose to always play with the wind at their backs, a tennis player cant choose to always play with the sun in the most awkward position for his opponent, a cricket team cant choose to always bat first.

Sometimes the averaging process is useful to summarize massive data, but other times it misleads.  Suppose that each player had two ratings, one for games played white and one for games played black?  These stratified ratings could not be manipulated by selecting a particularly favorable mix of white games vs. black games.  For that matter, one might go further and also have, in addition to an overall (by color) rating, a winning percentage against a range of opponent scores.  As in, winning percent against 1200-1300 players, 1300-1400 players, and so on.

It seems like if you really wanted to pick your color you could play with the color being given to you, resign early each game until you get the color you want. If you resign early enough, it won't effect your rating and does your record really matter on an online chess site?

You're welcome.

As for the stats, it wasn't meant to be scientific or exhaustive. You claimed 9 out of 10, and I looked at your most recent ten, finding that it was in fact (at the time of your post) only 6 out of 10. Apparently your memory was faulty. I glanced at the ratings of your opponents, though I didn't take notes. As I recall, most were fairly close to your current rating.

Okay then, let's look again at the last ten a little more closely. You had white five times and black five times. Hmmmm. Your current rating is 1087. Opponents ranged from (postgame) 1073 to 1188 with the average being 1129.5. Your record was 5+ 5- 0=. Two wins as white, three wins as black. Looks like you are playing in your range, getting the EXACT number of whites you should reasonably get, and doing slightly better as black.

So ... what the heck is the problem? Freedom of choice? What kind of nonsense is that? Even politically it's a myth. It's not guaranteed in the US Constitution. If you're driving your car, you don't have the freedom of choice in which direction you will drive on an Eastbound highway. You're going to go East or face serious consequences. You don't have the right to trespass on someone else's property. You can get arrested for that (and, I'm told, in some parts of the country, shot for it without local law enforcement getting too bent out of shape over it).

Here, you have more choice. Play by the rules of the site which now match virtually every otb situation, or CHOOSE to play unrated and do it your way. You want the rating? Fine. Play by the rules. (Over the board, if you want a rating, that means tournaments = NO choice of color.) It's your choice to play rated or unrated. Why should you be able to dictate to the site owners that they should calculate your rating when you play the way you want to play on their site? It seems to me they should have the freedom to choose to run their site their way.

I'm a bit amused at the childish whimpering of "It's not fair".

Any tournament director has to do their best to equalize the total number of white and black played by any player in any tournament.  Sometimes, that doesn't happen - a player will get 3 white and 2 black in a 5 round event.

the only truly 'fair' way would be to have one game with white and one with black in each round, against the same opponent.    but then, that would lead to the 'complaint'  of  "It's not fair"  becuase I had black first against him...

    I'm concluding:   Whiners will whine, it's what they do best, and chess players will walk on - trying to coax the whiners to stop whining and grow up a little (they won't grow up, but revel in their whining).

regards to all the chess players (and to the whiners).  you know which you are.

For future reference, all whimpering of "It's not fair" belongs in this thread:

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/community/its-not-fair

I should be able to get a comprehensive listing of everything that the members of this community feel are unjust from one central place.  To have to read every single thread lest I miss one, well...,

It's not fair!

but Grobe,

    It's not fair to deprive them of the necessity for reading every single thread to find all the ones about "it's not fair!"

I said I was given black 9 outa 10 times...I didnt say i actually played the game.  I aborted 10 games of black until I finally got a white. 

As for my performance with black vs. white, I would still tell you that 10 matches is not a large enough sample.  You are not taking into consideration my state of mind or theirs...I could have been in a hurry, distracted, tired, etc....Or so could of they.  But I'll save you the trouble of researching my last 50 games and just tell you Im better with white....I would know afterall. 

And again, I want to thank you Dad for a great lesson in political philosophy...it was so eyeopening..i just look at the world a different way now.<--sarcasm btw.  Your arguments are lame, old, and regurgitated.  Of course there are no absolute freedoms, especially when it infringes on others.  But lets not make apples oranges.  This is a poker site, yes.  But it is also a business...or at least attempting to be a viable one.  And as a business owner I can tell you that the customer is almost always right.  When I go into a restaurant, I order what I want.  If I want a steak, I get it.  The waitress doesnt veto it and say "no, you'll like the chicken better, plus its good for you". 

And thats what we all are, customers.  Even if we're not premium members, our membership leads to them getting more revenue from ads.  And I was planning on becoming premium when I actually had the time to utilize the benefits but I might choose against it now.  And as a customer, I feel it my duty to tell this business how it is not serving me so they have an opportunity to fix it and maintain my business. 

If my rating is 1200 and I always play white...then thats what it is.  Make your tournament rules however you want, I dont play them and dont care.  Live chess should have been kept as is.  later pops.

short-sightedly aborting the game when you get the color you did not want to play - leaves you still needing to play a game with that color... thus you will get the same color again and again, until either the system 'hiccups' or until you give up and play a game with that color.

    being interested in fair play means you would accept playing black an equal number of times you play a game with white, and stop aborting the game.

Ive given in and play with both, but i will not become premium.

Scratch "poker site"  above....you know what i meant.