What does premium membership get you? It will get you PQs (Pocket Queries). It will also get you access to MOC (Members Only Caches). You have access to the very cool map features, as well.

Premium membership will also allow you to participate in the newly-implemented "Off Topic" forum. I’m still trying to figure out just why this is a premium feature. Why would you take a small portion of the forums and make it a "pay to say" area? A sin tax, or another way to encourage people to pay the yearly membership? If that’s the case, why not make the entire forums a premium feature?

I, personally, am a charter member and wish that everyone else would help pay for the site and the work that it takes to keep it running. I can’t think of a better hobby/sport/game than caching, and it’s certainly worth the $30.00 per year to become a premium member.

If a part of the forums is a "pay to say" area, then I would like to see some the proceeds go to the moderators that spend so much of their time making the forums an enjoyable experience. I wonder how many more people would pay to become members if they knew that their local approver that works so hard for them, or their favorite moderator that keeps everything in perspective was getting a small piece of the pie?