Edit: Geof... there's a lot of "odd" functionality on these boards, like the ability to change one's name, etc, etc. Have you thought of having a two-level subscription system with premium features (sort of like the SomethingAwful.com forums, I guess...)?
Did I give it thought? Yes. I'm not going to do it that way, though, because then it's all cheeseball. Honestly, the 100-post point is a tipping point [1]. As the activity level of the Rumor Forum is what drives the resource outlay---we have a dual-CPU server purely because this place always drove a single-CPU into heat death!---it makes sense to have the major users of the Rumor Forum help to pay for its costs.
Edit 2: I know all these things have probably been hashed and re-hashed, but what about new members to the community? Do they get a free three-month trial period or something like that where they can integrate into the community at large?
Any registered member under 100 posts has free reign over the entire forum, minus any usergroup-specific fora. You may wish to think of that as a trial period, if you wish. I chose not to make it time based because people post at different rates, and many come here once, register, forget about it, then come back a few months later and then begin posting. Or they register, lurk, and then screw up their courage and jump in. I can think of a couple Bartenders, actually, who did that last.
I don't want to penalize people for any initial timidity---this place can be pretty doggone intimidating. [I mean, there's this crazy bearded guy who has like 60,000 posts! How do you relate to someone like that?!]
GFM
[1] Why yes, I am Malcolm Gladwell's pregnant Pomeranian. Thanks for asking!
