This is exactly correct Wifey,
With many upgrades and bandwidth that this server uses/requires, the costs of operating the forum tends to get expensive not including items not necessarily liquid valued (time, resources, etc..).
We currently have almost 75 supporting members with a total active member-base of over 3100 members...so with that being said, a very small percentage of the forum are supporting members. Any costs which are not met are then split between myself and jack...(which we have no problems doing that.....we love the forum and the members btw)
Point being, is that if we add a wonderful feature for the supporting members, this might help with the count, bringing in more for the forum; and helping cut down the costs for server updates, software, bandwidth, etc...
hope this explains a litte more....take care!
-Patrick