When I moved FreeDrive.com from free to fee, the reasons were similar. It was expensive, it was time consuming, and the software was becoming unwieldy due to its size. We had 15 or 17 million members, I can't remember. We ended up with something like a 4% conversion of the active members (something quite lower than 15 million). Most of the savings were derived not from eliminating usage, but from eliminating storage - which for you would mean archiving most of the information that's already here.
Additional costs crept in, like the need to advertise the service. Also, we had seriously undermined the trust relationship we had with our customers, and over time, though usage was initially high, a large percentage of them did eventually drop off.
Overall, it was a good thing for Freedrive, despite the trauma, which was significant. It extended the life of the company by about 8 months or so, and the company did not fail because of the fee structure. Eventually I think the usage would have crept back up, but in all probably we would have sought an outside partnership anyway and tried to integrate the service with similar businesses.
I consulted for 2 other businesses who wanted to take their memberships to fee-based. Part of the analysis and research included indentifying all the assets of having the free structure, and what the probable outcome would be if the structure would change. It doesn't sound as though you feel this Forum is actually netting you a benefit, and that's an important thing to consider.
Prospective members expect an exchange-for-value. In other words, the Forum would have to get better in some way - more services, deeper conversations, artistic promotion, something - and that would involve more work. Your storage bill would not change - if you archived all the messages why would people stay? Your ad budget would increase - if you wanted to sustain membership you'll have to have new people. Free access for moderators is not much of a draw to get people to work for you. The 30 day trial will bring in about 70% of people who never return, diluting the conversation and value further. Of the 50-75 members (less? more?) who have posted in the last 30 days, only maybe 25% can be optimistically expected to sign up based on this survey - is 15 people enough to sustain a lively forum?
So what I'm suggesting is that there may be other ways to increase revenues, and decrease costs and time spent. While this road might turn out to be the best for you, it might not be, too.
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