>>Presumably some forums/categories (e.g. Chatter) would be exempted from a 'Create new thread' charge ?
>>OTOH maybe if it's a political subject the charge should be $100 :-}
>
>Yes, we also thought about that. The thing is some users could bypass and post technical content in there as well. But, we usually move technical content, if not posted in a proper place, into a proper location.
>
>There are still variables in there we need to consider. So, this is only a draft and we are also considering other venues.

I like the idea of no charge for Chatter, as long as it's not technical or should otherwise be "paid". I think it helps build community to have a "water cooler"-type area.

One thing about charging by new threads, is it might encourage people to put a bunch of unrelated topics in a single thread. In some forums that's considered bad practice. On the other hand, sometimes here we get multiple threads about the same topic, which is also bad practice but maybe people have an urgent need and they think that by bombarding the UT they'll get a faster response.

Since you have all message histories, you should be able to simulate what charges members would have incurred under various pricing models. Maybe during this period where you're contemplating changes, you could offer a service where a member could send an e-mail to utpricingmodel@levelextreme.com with their name or member ID, and you could send an e-mail back with what their charges would have been over, say, the last 2 years.