Some features removed from Free access:
The following features that're either really cool or really resource-intensive are no longer available to anyone but Subscribers and Grandfathered Subscribers:
Full-text Search
Spell-Check
Public Message Archiving
If you're not a subscriber, the Preview button will still work and should still display your message just like it'll appear when posted, but your text isn't run through the spell-checker.
Also, if you're not a subscriber, the "Keep" buttons don't show up on public messages addressed to you.
Next on the chopping block will be Interface Customization. This includes the "My Settings" and "My Interface" options of the Tools menu. It's not going away immediately, though. Not until I get things set up that'll allow a limited-time preview of all of these features for new members.
Spell-Check is a bit of a burden on the servers, and Full-Text Searching is a major one, which has been getting used a LOT for the past month or so. I'm seeing response times of 2-4 seconds on it, which isn't acceptable, so it's looking very likely that I'll write one from scratch to replace what SQL Server has built in.
In the case of Public Message Archiving, I just think it's one of those really neat things (does any other site offer it? Not that I know of.) that I like having as a reason to subscribe. After all, ads that nobody clicks don't pay the bills. <g>
