>For those regular on this site who do not already have a subscription, I would like to collect some feedback from you as to know what missing feature(s) would you like to obtain so it would worth it for you to upgrade your account to the subscription.
>
>As many of you already know, the subscription is a vital piece of the good running of this site. This is what we rely on for its survival. So, I would like to know or collect some information on what would make your presence on the Universal Thread a more productive one. So, feel free to let me know what you would like to obtain which would encourage you to purchase or renew your subscription.

A few general comments and ideas - I don't know how many may be useful for you.

1. I don't frequent a lot of discussion boards, but of the ones I've seen/used, yours has the best UI. Have you considered licensing it?

2. Offer subscribers free advertising. Maybe you could include subscriber banner ads in periodic rotation.

3. Offer subscribers "keywords" - for lack of a better name - sort of like Google AdWords. Suppose subscribers could input say, 20 keywords (or phrases). When a user creates a new message and s/he views the newly created message for the first time, an information panel could appear below it e.g.:

Your message included the phrase '.Net 4.0'.

Subscriber Jane Smith (link) has written xxx messages containing that phrase, of which yy were marked Helpful, and z were marked as Solution.

Subscriber John Doe (link) has written aaa messages containing that phrase, of which bb were marked Helpful, and c were marked as Solution.

Your message included the phrase 'SuperCollectionClass'.

Subscriber Jill Bloggs (link) has written fff messages containing that phrase, of which gg were marked Helpful, and h were marked as Solution.

...

The idea is, subscribers get extra "face time", with links or other contact information to encourage users to contact them directly if the subscriber is interested in offering consulting or other paid help.

4. This point has nothing to do with revenue, but is something that has been at the back of my mind for some time, and now's as good a time as any to say it.

One of the best features of a paid subscription is the ability to search messages. This is valuable because many of the messages have useful content, which members spent time creating. However, if for any reason a member ceases being a subscriber, they cannot even search their own messages, which they have contributed to this site.

I think this is wrong. I believe a member should be able to search their own messages, whether they are a subscriber or not.