I am definitely against "real name" handles. Folks should be able to choose how much privacy they want online.

Agree with others that making previous years and years of posts fade into the background unless you have a premium membership is a bad idea. People should be able to search through past archives, as there is a wealth of information there.

A minimum threshold of 200 posts to become a member sounds like a bad idea.

If money is going to be charged for access to certain parts of the forum or web site... there should appropriately be exclusive web content, discounts, offers, downloads, or extra features involved somehow.

May I suggest a supporter or membership "badge" next to a person's forum name when posting to show they have recently donated to ETS. Perhaps a quarterly renewal option with varying degrees of monetary contribution? Maybe $1, $5, $10, $15, or $20 quarterly? Forums such as edcforums.com, knifeforums.com, and candlepowerforums.com have such a feature.

IMHO, the ETS forum is the best thing available online for real world survival-related content. So many knowledgeable and friendly people here. It would be great if the forums could be self-supporting.