>>Since you have all message histories, you should be able to simulate what charges members would have incurred under various pricing models.
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>Won't work. Pricing always changes behavior, as you can observe in the great sociological experiment called "mobile services pricing plans".
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>Presently, we had the same questions being asked over and over ("will VFP work on Windows nn", for one) because the returning members couldn't search but could ask a question for free. Now with new questions being under a cap, assuming the search was now free, they'd probably search for what they could find, and then continue some old thread.
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>People always do what they are paid for, and prefer what they don't have to pay for. So applying new rules to old data is an illusion - those data wouldn't look like that if these rules were in effect.

I didn't say the simulation would be perfect, since as you point out human nature is perverse - but it'll likely be better than nothing for those who have no idea.

>People always do what they are paid for [i.e. contribute to open-source projects, or the UT for that matter], and prefer what they don't have to pay for [e.g. booze, cocaine].

;-)