Have you guys considered using adsense, or similar services, on this website? With 150k members it ought to give some money, I am sure. And yeah, it might be a bit ugly but I don't mind since as more money you get => the faster (and better!) CB will become. And since so many are dependent on CB and since it is growing bigger, you might consider getting one or two new developers in the (one man?) team. I think paying them might make the developer position more attractive. Clearly, the payment will not be enough to live on since I doubt that the money you get from the subscription + the possible earning from adsense is enough (but there are some people who get >100$ each day...) but it would be a good start.
It would be a win-win situation. CB is growing and I think this justifies considering ways of getting more money into the project and expanding the staff (firstly more developers).
How many visitors/unique visitors does joomlapolis get each month?
Not sure how it drives people away unless you completely crowd the pages with ads. It's another way to stay financially viable while keeping CB free. What even comes close to CB anyway? Where would people go?
Maybe ads could not be shown to users who have a subscription.
A single leaderboard at the top and/or bottom would be good.
Join an affiliate network like cj.com too and you could show web hosting providers (something relevant) which often pay up to $100 or more per each referral customer.
