Well, I have to make money somehow - ECF costs a lot to run. Any suggestions?
There is only one website that I pay money for the use of and that is an art site. I enjoy and use the site and its worth it to me to pay membership fees. (Its the ONLY website I have ever paid for)
However those fees unlock certain awesome advantages, first is no ads. Pay money, you have zero ads. Second is additional comment features - although here those types of features would be near worthless here, as no one here is happy to pay extra to have constructive criticism for instance on their post or easier linking and embedding of their artwork, but i bet you could add some extra emoticons that only paying members can use, and other such quirky things like unlock additional amounts of classified ads.. blah blah blah.
That said, since i don't pay for the use of this site, I dont usually mind the ads. Although the flashy one gives me a migraine in seconds flat, so I have to be careful about scrolling to where I cannot see it. If I was epileptic I wouldn't use the site at all because of the flashy ad, because that would trigger an epileptic seizure as fast as it triggers a migraine for me.
However, if there was a promise of no ads and perhaps some cool features, I would be willing to pay a minimal amount of money per year. I usually pay 30 a year for the art site as I renew my membership during their sales, (I'm a tightwad) so I'm sure for no ads I might be willing to pay 15 a year here.. (the other sight is worth more to me for specific reasons..)
But, you can consider something like that for people, many I'm sure would pay just to have a lovely ad free experience, and perhaps some additional emoticons and classified ad listings..
I don't know.. but it works elsewhere.