uh...
Why is Chess.com growing so quickly?
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Mar 4, 2023
0
#183
The_Krieg wrote:
Think about it. When you walk down the street, do you see anyone playing chess????? If so, then how many? hundreds? thousands? nope.
The world is a much larger place than the small piece of it you experience day to day.
the unfortunate reality is that chess.com might cease to exist in the near future...
in fact its very possible that the site may never be able to adequately address the issues that it is having
believe it or not, it is an existential threat that chess.com is facing. the exponential growth, as unexplained as it is, and as uncontrolled as it is threatens everything throughout the chess.com system. from server capacity to functionality of the site
anytime that a site experiences exponential growth ... uncontrolled exponential growth, it faces the very real possibility of failing
interested members should seek out what chess.com has posted about the recent system crashes and server failures and determine for themselves whether the explanations make any sense or whether the explanations are adequate.
I seriously doubt that anyone who evaluates the daily use activity would be confident that the explanations are sufficient. Take for instance if you were evaluating the company from an investors standpoint. would the explanations be sufficient for you to feel confident that chess.com has the issue under control?
any real issues are being ignored and inadequately addressed. That is why this is an existential threat to the site.
Mar 4, 2023
0
#187
The_Krieg wrote:
I doubt that you have a degree in mathematics.
If you did have a degree in mathematics, then you would be able to figure out that a mere 160% increase in daily use for a site over a period of 3 months should not crash a site or cause devastating overloads daily.
I have a degree in Mathematics and Computer Science and have worked in IT for over 20 years. I certainly understand that companies use historical growth to plan capacity over multi-year periods and scale that capacity in planned increments. Sometimes, that planning gets caught much higher than anticipated loads. Suh as what happened here.
https://www.chess.com/news/view/chess-boom-1-billion-games-played-in-february
Even more information on the increases to discount 
The 5xx errors have been rarer as well for the past few weeks, though there are still some occasions of abnormal and excessive traffic that has caused issues and has been quickly resolved.
Martin_Stahl wrote:
The_Krieg wrote:
I doubt that you have a degree in mathematics.
If you did have a degree in mathematics, then you would be able to figure out that a mere 160% increase in daily use for a site over a period of 3 months should not crash a site or cause devastating overloads daily.
I have a degree in Mathematics and Computer Science and have worked in IT for over 20 years. I certainly understand that companies use historical growth to plan capacity over multi-year periods and scale that capacity in planned increments. Sometimes, that planning gets caught much higher than anticipated loads. Suh as what happened here.
https://www.chess.com/news/view/chess-boom-1-billion-games-played-in-february
Even more information on the increases to discount
The 5xx errors have been rarer as well for the past few weeks, though there are still some occasions of abnormal and excessive traffic that has caused issues and has been quickly resolved.
I doubt that the 505 Errors are rare, because a 505 Error occurred very recently... and if you're saying that its a 1 in a million occurrence well then I experienced that 1 in a million which I doubt is that rare right now
Honestly, Chess.com is experiencing problems on a scale that is beyond its ability to control. If a site is incapable of avoiding daily crashes, mid game crashes, system failures, server capacity problems, and 505 Errors then something is indeed wrong.
The fact that the issue is seemingly being ignored and swept under the rug is problematic. The reason is that users are seeing the issues first hand and the issues are undeniable at that point.
It is very much similar to Russian propaganda during its invasion of Ukraine; namely telling the Russian people that Russia was not the aggressor & that Ukraine started the war. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was recently publicly humiliated on stage in India when he attempted to pretend that Ukraine started the war against Russia:
Lavrov stated on stage: "The war, which we are trying to stop, which was launched against us using Ukrainian people," That may be a line acceptable to Russian citizens who have been brainwashed into thinking that everything Putin tells them is true, but to a discerning audience, everyone knew that Lavrov was lying with a straight face.
For anyone to say that there is no problem here with server capacity and 505 Errors being uncommon, they are simply pretending that the issues are minimal when the issues actually threaten the very integrity of the entire site. exponential growth of daily user activity within a short period of time when nothing is happening in chess highlights a unknown factor that is effectively crashing the site.
Most recently there have been very few players from Russia playing on chess.com. It's just a reality whether from exclusion or otherwise. Russia has been known to site hack and site target so I would not put it past those disgruntled Russian chess players who were excluded or suspended from targeting chess.com with the system crashing activity. Since you have a computer science degree and Mathematics background, you can verify for us that increased daily use of the site is causing the site to crash as unexplained daily user increases are the cause of such crashes. To say that it is not really an issue, is to ignore the reason behind the system failures. To pretend that it is normal overlooks the reality that what is happening is anything but normal.
Is chess.com being targeted... the frequency and prevalence of the system failures leads to the conclusion that there is something very wrong happening here & they do not have control on the issue and may never get it under control.
Ostriches put their heads in the sand. Is Chess.com hoping that its members will simply put their heads in the sand?
ZiLiangMa wrote:
People notice a website for people that are Intrested in chess
really? so just randomly stumbling across the site that does not advertise itself effectively when there is nothing happening in chess worldwide... you think that's driving increased interest in chess?
aoidaiki wrote:
The_Krieg wrote:
Think about it. When you walk down the street, do you see anyone playing chess????? If so, then how many? hundreds? thousands? nope.
The world is a much larger place than the small piece of it you experience day to day.
so....
by extension of that train of thought, what one experiences in their daily lives in their local communities is irrelevant because it does not necessarily project upon a larger sweeping movement or worldwide interest.
Great because that proves my point about those chess clubs being cited for 30% increases in membership which could be a move from 10 to 13 players with an additional 3 members year to year. As you can see by looking back, the individual who posted that comment did not come back and state the exact number of people who were in the chess club and did not cite the actual number of members increase year to year. Irrelevant yes.
Chinese bot teating?
Testing*
Mittens is a major cause
thekoolaidjammers wrote:
Yeah, there’s the Mittens bot, Magnus and Hans cheating scandal, world championship, Messi and Ronaldo playing, and GothamChess on Youtube
None of that is recent
Look at how long ago the Magnus issue occurred
Ronaldo & Messi was last year over 5 months ago
Gotham Chess is horrible
Mittens... hmmmmmmmmm, what is Mittens again>>>>?
explodingmacaroni wrote:
Testing*
Hmmmmm... do you see any Chinese playing here anymore? or identifying as Chinese with the flag of China? or the flag of Russia?
Go check...
Mar 5, 2023
0
#196
aoidaiki skrev:
The_Krieg wrote:
Think about it. When you walk down the street, do you see anyone playing chess????? If so, then how many? hundreds? thousands? nope.
The world is a much larger place than the small piece of it you experience day to day.
No no, he is correct. If you don't see people doing it outside on the street or they talk to you about it then it doesn't exist. Very reasonable point of view in our digital age.
PlayByDay wrote:
aoidaiki skrev:
The_Krieg wrote:
Think about it. When you walk down the street, do you see anyone playing chess????? If so, then how many? hundreds? thousands? nope.
The world is a much larger place than the small piece of it you experience day to day.
No no, he is correct. If you don't see people doing it outside on the street or they talk to you about it then it doesn't exist. Very reasonable point of view in our digital age.
I did not limit it to merely in person play
digitally, how many people do you see playing chess on their un-smartphones? How many people are chatting about chess daily? where? why isn't chess trending on social media? it's not.... nowhere.
People cite Levy but he is an outlier... and some have questioned the legitimacy of his "numbers" & "subscribers"... given the history of fake numbers and subscribers online to social media platforms that advertise increased followings based on monetary payments, no one has really looked at the numbers... and Levy won't likely reveal it to anyone
If there are even 2 to 3 fake subscribers, then the statement that there are fake subscribers is true... but who thinks that its only 2-3 right? exactly. show us the real numbers.
so where is the increased interest in chess worldwide. honestly go take a look right now... search it online and show us where the increased interest is... go ask the people around you, go to the mall, go to school, go to work, go anywhere around you that there are a lot of people and you will see that NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT CHESS ... and even fewer people are actually playing or learning chess.
So... if no one is interested and no one is putting in the time, then why is chess.com numbers and daily use activity numbers increasing by so much????? Chess.com says it doesn't know why... odd isn't it that a site that states that it is doing so well because of increased traffic doesn't know why it has increased traffic... that the same site chess.com is crashing daily and having server capacity issues daily can't identify why its site is crashing or who is crashing its site if anyone.
what are we not being told? what is the truth? Well, Stahl... why is the real information and numbers being hidden from our community of real chess players? why can't we identify the real issues here and discuss it like reasonable and intelligent chess community members? why do you treat these members of our community like children who can't participate in reasonable intelligent discourse online.
Top chess players within the top 1% worldwide are some of the most intelligent individuals in the world today. we can solve your problems overnight, but you won't let us.
So you made this whole thread just to disagree with yourself that Chess.com’s userbase is growing due to an increase in interest in chess?
What answer are you looking for? It seems more that this thread is intended for you to rebuke any thesis that is put up, so instead how about you just tell us the answer.
No it's not... 3 new members of a local chess club, raising the total number of members from 10 to 13 is a 30% increase but it is insignificant & it is not indicative of any widespread increase in interest in chess.
Think about it. When you walk down the street, do you see anyone playing chess????? If so, then how many? hundreds? thousands? nope.
In your daily conversations, are you talking to people about chess? Oh d3 or d4 that is the question right Angie?' Nope.
When you turn on the television or streaming service do you see a lot of chess? Nope. no one even knows the names of the top 10 players. some don't even know who magnus or hikaru or Ian Nepomniachtchi... heck even those who play chess or follow chess can't spell "Nepomniachtchi"
Truth is that chess remains stagnant. There is nothing happening in chess right now, but yet chess.com daily activity numbers are skyrocketing exponential growth... bizarre? unexpected? you bet
You continue with your "nothing happening in the chess" while one of the largest chess websites in the world is growing exponentially. Maybe chess world is not just clubs and professional players?
Also, I haven't seen anybody play WoW or Minecraft and neither heard about it from friends so should I assume that those games were not "naturally" popular either? Because most growth in chess seems to be exactly that: chess on digital platforms. Maybe it is bots, maybe it is bought views and users or... maybe it is just more people who come to play chess because of many other small reasons?
Lastly, one club growing by 30% could be just some local variation. Might even be a normal variation which could be seen in previous years. But if many clubs grew by 30%, that would show a rise in interest. Because for every 1 person willing to go to the chess club, there are 100 or 1 000 or 10 000 who prefer to play online.