A colleague of mine went to a number of seminars to judge response (from the audience - not the promoters) to paying for membership to an internet site.
Less than five people (5!) in over 5000+ (many seminars) would agree to pay (at least for our subject topic). It could be different for you.
So, what's the option?
Well, we went out and told our advertisers what we wanted, financially. We told them (the truth) that we had their target audience. They agreed to pay.
I doubt I'll ever be rich, but it's way better than 1c/click! (Or whatever it is these days.)
Please don't give up my friend, there are always options.
I know of more than one site running .threads who is doing quite well with paid membership forums, others running other forum scripts. I'd give up my day job if I had a site doing that well... The deal is, you got to have something (information, instruction, etc.) worth paying for
