Here is Darklod Dave's post on PM.
Premium Memberships - From the new FAQ:
Premium Membership is $25 per year and is renewed automatically. Currently we only have it available through a Paypal payment.
What is included for a Premium Membership:
Can post items for sale in the Marketplace
Can have a larger avatar
Can use an animated gif in signature (size limited to less than 500KB)
Can create a Group
Can have a Blog
Will have a Premium Member badge.
Increase of PM box from 100 to 1000.
May Use Custom User Title
Can Use Reputation System
Maximum Number of Album Pictures from 50 to 250.
Limited Ads - We remove the in-thread ads.
Access to Premium Member Forum
User Name Changes
Premium Memberships are charged on a recurring, annual basis. Premium Memberships are NOT refundable. If you are banned or have an infraction hiatus you will not be refunded for full or partial Premium Member fees.
Can post in the Marketplace forums
Only Premium Members are allowed to post items for sale.
Can have a larger Avatar and Profile Picture
The avatar size limit is increased to 100x100 pixels and the Profile Picture size limit is increased to 150x150 pixels. Both can be animated gifs if you wish.
Can use an animated gif in your signature
Only Premium Members will be able to upload or link animated gifs in their signatures. The size limit on signatures still applies – 150 pixels tall by 800 pixels wide are the outer limits. The file size is limited to 500kb.
Can create a Group
Only Premium Members will be able to create user Groups.
Can have Blogs
Only Premium Members will be able to create their own Blogs.
Can post Visitor Messages
Only Premium Members will be able to post visitor messages on other members’ profile pages.
Increase of PM box from 100 to 1000
This one is pretty self-explanatory. Your PM box is now 5 times as large!
Can Use Custom User Title
You can change the user title beneath your name.
Editing your Custom User Title:
Click User CP in the nav bar.
Click Edit Your Details from the Your Profile section of the menu on the left.
In the Custom User Title block (second section, first block) add your custom user title.
Scroll to the bottom of the Edit Your Details page and click Save Changes!
Congrats, your Custom User Title will now display beneath your user name in every post! Please note that all of our forum rules still apply to your Custom User Title so keep it clean.
Can Use Reputation System
As a Premium Member you have the ability to "Like" or "Dislike" another member's post, which will in turn increase or decrease that member's reputation here on the site. The longer you have been here, the more you have posted, and the greater your own reputation, the more influence you wield when liking or not liking another members post.
How does this system work?
Every member starts off with a reputation of 10.
To the left of every post, you will now see a scale (). We don't expect you to rate every post, but if you feel a post is extremely helpful or extremely unhelpful, click the scale and choose "I LIKE this!" Additionally you can leave a comment that only the staff and the poster can see.
If you LIKE a post, reputation points will be awarded to the poster. If you DISLIKE a post then reputation points will be taken away from the poster.
In the beginning each LIKE is equal to 1 reputation point. However, there are three factors that increase your reputation-altering power. Those three things are; 1) your time on the site, 2) your post count and 3) your own reputation.
For every 365 days you have been registered, you gain 1 point of reputation-altering power.
For every 1000 posts you make, you gain 1 point of reputation-altering power.
For every 250 points of reputation you have been awarded, you gain 1 point of reputation-altering power.
Let's take me for example. I start with 1 point. I have been a member since Feb 2000. This gives me 11 points (11 years on the site). I have 8,884 posts. This gives me 8 points (8,000+ posts). Since I currently have a reputation of 0 (just like everyone else), I don't get any additional points for reputation. This means for every LIKE I award, the user will gain 20 reputation points!
Other factors to consider. You cannot LIKE more than 25 posts a day. You can't LIKE the same user without LIKING 25 other members (this means you can't simply LIKE the same person over and over again).
The purpose of the reputation system is to reward those who are contributing to the site in a positive way. Please remember, the staff can read your comments within the reputation system, so make sure they abide by the Member Guidelines.
While non-Premium members can see your reputation pips, they can't award reputation points (although you can award points to them!).
Maximum Number of Album Pictures from 50 to 250
Did you even know you have your own Albums? Many members don't! I your User CP, you can set up your own Albums and Photos. All users are allowed to upload 50 images to their albums. Premium Members upload limit has been increased 5 times!
Limited Ads
While Premium Membership will NOT remove all ads it will remove the ads that appear within a thread.
Access to Premium Member Forum
You are here, so you already know about the Premium Member Forum and that only Premium Members have access to it. No sales allowed in here.
User Name Changes
Member name changes will be limited to Premium Members only. You will still be limited to one name change every 365 days so choose your member name carefully!
At the moment, I don't think it's necessary, but.....
