Here is my brainstorm.
The forum stays as is for the most part (donations optional). However, to post a vanity article or to post to a general discussion thread, one would have to pay a small subscription fee).
To do this, all that would be needed would be another "topic" or category which could be used to designate the "chat" style threads (The Guild, ATRW, The Smoker's Lounge, FReepoles, etc), and have an access level or list inplemented in the software to limit access to that category to only donors. Since these threads have no copywrite protections, there should be no fair use concerns.
The vanities would not need a special category- just a warning that vanities are only to be posted by paying customers and donors when a person tries to post an article, and then the moderators could pull those which are vanities posted by non-paying types (and I am not suggesting the mods get access to who has been donating how much. All that would need to be visible to them is a yes/no flag for the article's poster).
In each case, we would be charging for the content which is distinctly separate from the published, copywrited articles we debate.
I've also suggested this idea of a two-tiered system -- one for vanities and one for serious discussion. If Jim could do this and still get around the "fair use" thing, I think it would work.
There aren't many people here who, as least on occasion, enjoy posting on vanities, especially on the weekends when news is slow. But if people had to pay to chat, it would solve a lot of the problem, IMHO. And it is a problem, especially when your time is limited and you find yourself getting frustrated wading through ankle-deep trash just to find the hard news.