Subscribers - no banner ads
(donation of any amount = 12 month FR membership)
This is the Delphi Forums business model.
If I recall correctly, they offer two levels of annual subscription. Their premium membership comes with all sorts of cool user features. Their standard membership comes with fewer bells and whistles. Their basic membership is free, and simply allows one to post and read. Basic (unpaid) members also see all of the banner ads, where paid members do not.
I think that Proud's suggestion would be a perfectly logical evolution for FR, and wouldn't change the site for donating members. Perhaps as time goes on, the owners of FR could offer a few bells and whistles to paid subscribers, like Delphi Forums does.
This is a good capitalistic solution to a problem that has been plaguing FR for far too long. Given that FR is the number one gathering place for conservatives on the internet, the potential revenue that could be generated from banner ads is probably considerable.
I may be wrong and also may be projecting. We are the customers at Free Republic. It is about us being warriors and not passive consumers. Jim is up front about his model and if it doesn't work so be it. I think this is Jims test of where we are going and I concur. It is not about capitalism, business model or consumerism, it is about freedom and if we will pay the price, whether it is donations here at FR, learning thru other opinions, laying down our worldly goods and maybe even our lives like our founders did.
Ben Franklin and others, did not advertise but wanted to know if the ideas would sell themselves. It was a big test that we passed back then. Our test is bigger today. There are bigger things than capitalism.