Yes, paying is a good idea. Posting should be free, because the posters' contribution is what makes this board so good, so we shouldn't create a disincentive to contribute to the quality of this forum.
I am in favor of memberships. to pay to read/post. Memberships not only would eliminate/reduce the influence of advertisers, it also would discourage people who are not serious about trading from coming here. Anybody remember "little nicky" or the chinese scammer?
$5/$10 a month for individuals would be fair, i think. Also there should be a difference between "individual" and "professional" memberships.
def, don bright etc etc should pay at least $1000 a month to do customer service/ marketing here. Anybody selling something or doing incessant posting promoting whatever should pay the "professional" membership. That way the vendors would post whatever they want. Moderators would decide who pays the professional and the individual membership.