>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?

It is good but over the years, it has evolved up to a level that it would make it difficult to be a vertical market product.

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

I do not see it as much value for the subscribers. Or, maybe, it would be overused. That one would be difficult to adapt and control.

>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.:

Thanks for the suggestion

>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.

Thanks, I will try to adjust that.