Quit pushing the Membership

"Haha. You guys should go cry more, Fanbois. They are in it for money, they are not your friend."

Careful now, you're starting to sound like a guy who lost his last 10 games and just wants to take it out on something.

Umm, I won't take sthe OP's side but let us make it clear that nobody is doing anybody favors here. On one side Chess.com offers a nice venue to play chess for free with almost no restrictions. On the other side, free members build up traffic volume which helps to increase ad revenues and to support the claim that this is the #1 site to play chess. To think that they are just "giving out" their product would be an insult to Eric-the-businessman.

I pay for membership, not to play (that's free) but because I enjoy the video lessons, tactics trainer and mentor. I consider it to be cost effective when judged against buying books, which was the only way before the internet...

I have to say that all except for one isolated incident, the people who play here seem to be genuine and decent - I had trouble getting a serious game on yahoo, unlike here. 

I'm very happy 

 we're sorry. we'll only accept your checkmate move after you pay for a full membership. but don't worry. after that you'll lose on time.

As I see it,the library is where you check out books free,but the library is not FREE! It is paid with taxes,you could win a car for nothing,but you need to pau for the gas,insurance and maintance,so that is not free.chess.com is a good place to play this game.....

Hey, do you remember that time earlier in this topic when like ten people told you that chess.com is a business trying to make money? Then you remember when you dismissed that as being a terrible argument? Then do you remember when you told us chess.com was in it for the money?

You're doing a great job, everyone is agreeing with you because you're so right. Keep it up, slugger.

Actually if you read the posts they claim that "my generation wants everything for free", and that I'm a "freeloader" in the first 3 pages.

I complained about the used car salesman approach. 

It probably is a good value, chess books are for some reason very expensive.

They should be less pushy, tell how much it costs prominently, and show which features require a membership. 

In fact apparently the videos used to just cut off, without even telling you to upgrade. 

I'm sure it is a great value, I just don't like they ram it down your throat.

interesting read :)

i don't think that anyone who's been around on this site for the last 3 years and understands what we've put into the site vs. gotten out of it would say we're in it for the money. based on my experience and education there are plenty of things i could be doing for more money. :) that said, i am trying to make a living from the site. but i also do this because i love it! i love chess, and i love this site. if it were just about the money i wouldn't be hanging out on the site, and we'd be doing things a lot differently. 

as for "ramming it down your throat", it's true that at every touch point of membership there are links to learn more and small encouragements to upgrade your account. that's our business - showing you what we have to offer, and hoping you'll like it. on the spectrum of pushy vs. totally unobtrusive, from all the sites i've been on i'd say we're somewhere in the middle. but on the spectrum of offering tons for free vs. nothing for free, we offer tons. hopefully you can take the free stuff in exchange for the minor inconveniences of membership reminders. 

as for pricing, all it takes is one simple click to visit the membership page and see all of the options and features. we aren't hiding it - it's just too much to show and explain in a tiny box. 

i don't mind this discussion at all. it's helpful to see feedback from everyone, regardless of opinion. this forum thread was confirming that most (but not all) people find most (but not all) of our policies and practices acceptable. and that's all i can ask for - i've learned that hard way that you can't make everyone happy all of the time. 

thanks for sharing!

Fair enough. I suppose you're entitled to that opinion.

I think you got a lot of flak for your original post because it comes across as being pretty whiney. If you're going to make a comment that is meant to be a harmless suggestion to the chess.com staff then you should probably be very careful with your phrasing.

The chess.com forum frequenters are a dangerous and aggressive crowd and are usually glad to thrash anyone who posts something that resembles one of the three billion other posts on that topic they've seen (resignation topics and miscellanious complaints to the chess.com staff come to mind).

I am happy with chess.com, I like to pay for what I get, and chess tutor is good, tactics are good, service is good, and now can play chess with many friends around the world, not just my friend in front of my house.

If you want free, chess.com is also free, I do not see your complain?

Chess.com is a nice place to play and make friends, you do not like, why stay?

Most forums are that way.

I was whining, it's true. I admit it.

Things can always be improved. 

I just get defensive as a consumer, and want to be able to progress into a paid membership naturally, organically, slowly; however you want to say it.

That said, I bought a $30 book on chess the other day, and a chess.com membership is probably a much better value.

I've been losing a lot lately, maybe it's time to try it out. Although the book is very good too, I've only read a page or two though.

Chess.com still is a startup, so they probably still are breaking even. When they become bigger and more popular, they can lower the membership costs.

Does an AD in the corner of your screen really make you that mad that you want to post a whiny rant on the forums?

Maybe you should demand your money back.

 LOL... exactly.

Well.. it looks like the vast majority of players don't agree with you.

Use Firefox and get the additional addons and you wont see a single add or popup.

This topic is not only old, but you did not read it correctly.

Please review all the comments.

For instance I have never seen an Ad on here, other than one for the membership. I must have a good popup blocker.

I also apologized for the way I stated my comment, and did not realize how new the website was. That said, they can always continue to improve, and seem like they are working diligently to improve the website. 

Just let the thread die already.

I don't know about bringing revenue -- quite the opposite actually.  The idea would be to remind premium members that their automatic renewal is approaching so that they have the opportunity to opt out before they are charged for another year's membership.  It's not so much about any direct impact to revenue as it is about preserving the customer relationship.  Unhappy users are not generally repeat customers.

Paul,

it seems that what you get in terms of "better", is longer lines of analysis (seriously reams of it, too much in fact, can't find the last move in the little move window) and quicker service (my analyses are sometimes completed in under ten minutes).

Also, I don't think I've seen it suggest idiot moves yet, unlike the 2000-rated version but maybe that's because I don't play anywhere near 2500.

That's just my impression, no science was harmed in the making of this unofficial advertisement.

Saying it in French gives me goosebumps

After I'm done paying for my son's broken neck I plan to subscribe and stop freeloading. For those of you with stars and diamonds and such: which is the most bang for the buck?

I have not really noticed them trying to get me to do anything. But I don't really care about the bells and whistles. To me playing chess any time of the day or night is enough.

This is the best chess site and one of my favorite sites in the series of tubes.