*sighs* This is what I get for having a few Hienekens'. I posted this in the Suggestions thread in the Front Page Section. If there is an admin that could remove the original post that would be great. My apologies for posting in the wrong section. :gaah:
Being a forum troll that I am here are some things I have noticed for payed memberships. Many of these may have already been suggested. Please disregard any suggestions if it has already been mentioned.
No pop ups; No ads, email, FTP access, Blog space, web space - similar in size to something like MySpace, a special notation for payed membership under the avatar, personal smilies, IF - IF the forum was directly linked to a store (a percentage off merchandise for a payed membership and discounts are determined by levels such as bronze, silver, gold and platinum), rare circumstances a section to moderate (but that is for very small forums unlike here), increased amount of images allowed or image size, some toss in a free piece of merchandise (IE: game, hat, shirt, mouse pad... etc), access to voice chat servers (Ventrilo or TeamSpeak (non-game related chat areas)), a magazine subscription (forums for magazines), pre-release purchases (IE: a chance to buy the brand-new product before it becomes open to the public usually weeks in advance), option to beta test new products (small samples of new products or beta test mods to current games and give input).
In no way have I seen payed membership grant special access to areas of the forums unless it was for FTP access or confidential beta testing.
These are many ideas I've seen and some are combination's. It all depends on the admins and the forums target for payed memberships.
In all, I would pay. With the information I have obtained from here and the monthly giveaways I would be happy to indulge. But the first three I mentioned should be a gimme for any payed membership. IMO.