by forcing people to pay for his site, doesn't that hurt the sport? If I was a new comer just getting into the sport and I stumbled onto p/s I wouldn't want to spend money on a site like that. I'm not saying everything should be free, but if he set up a donation like bhq then all the people that feel like they are getting something for nothing can donate to keep the site alive. I've been on pirate4x4.com for years and it is a much nicer site with a lot (a lot) more memebers and posts, and their site is free with optional donations.
I don't think by making it mandatory to pay he is going to help the sport or his members, the only person that is it is going to help is him. By taking the search function away it is going to put more worthless posts up there that will just get deleted (because it has already been answered), and then the person posting won't get their answer, and it will make that new comer feel like p/s is full of assholes.