Hi
My few pence worth of thoughts. My view on a paid subscription is that it would restrict what is now a very open forum with every member sharing equal status into a 2 tier system for "elite" and "ordinary" members with a certain amount of pressure on new and existing members to upgrade or miss out.
I do however believe that a charge should be made for the use of the For Sale section of the site. I would place a flat rate charge of £1.50 for private adverts and then let the vendor choose to incorporate the fee into the cost of the item or arrange with the purchaser to share the cost.
An arrangement could be made with retail advertisers for a discounted rate for volume use as seen fit.
On a very quick calculation, there have been approx 7200 adverts placed in the For Sale section this year 7200 X £1.50 = £10800.00 a very useful amount by anyones reckoning.
Please don't slate me remember it's only an opinion
Steve