JerNYC: That was a pretty "snooty" post coming from someone complaining of a "snooty" membership base.
And sorry, but EVERY turn based site has people complaining of "the slower players". Even at the sites you list.

I, along with most of the paid membership base, certainly do appreciate the free players as well. It's only common sense that the base of available opponents would be pretty small if only paid members could play here.