I'd hold the direct e-mail in reserve...but be sure that a promotion appears at the top of each thread. If we come down to the wire and have had limited participation, then unleash the e-mail!
An e-mail from JimRob is not spam!!!
If only the registeration did as well as you guys have done.
I remember during the last FReepathon that I had a little grey box pop up in the middle of my screen advising me of the FReepathon that I had to click "OK" to make it go away. Somehow a enterprising FReeper managed to make that happen. Why not make something like that pop up when you first log in. Not as a direct link to the support site, but just as a reminder that you would have to "click" through to make it go away.
My sentiments exactly!