How to add advertising or paid membership to forum?

[Big5Designs]

I have a client that has had a website and forum for almost 10 years. They have never had advertising and have basically had the site up for it's users as a free place to contribute and share. They would like to add advertising and have thought about adding a paid membership to the forum to make it ad free.

However, they are getting quite a lot of negativity about it and the members are stating that they want it to stay free, they don't want ads and that they want it to stay as a small community.

So, if anyone has any pointers or tips as to how they can go about these changes?

Any offer of tips or help is appreciated.

Thank you!

 

[josyjacob]

Not automatically, but you could always make it a private site with only the front page open, and add a payment button to the front page. Make it so you have to approve members, and don't approve until they pay you.

 

[josyjacob]

Another alternative is just doing a BuddyPress install, grabbing one of the countless membership plugins, and hosting it yourself. More work upfront but complete customization and 100% automation of the membership and payment may make it worthwhile if you are expecting a few thousand members...

Just another thought.