It’s, what, 16 cents a week? For content and commentary that has kept me and thousands of others involved and interested for over a decade (despite all the many other things competing for our attention).
As I said upthread, assuming you can afford it - and, no doubt, most of the posters here can - how can you not pay? If nothing else, the more paying subscribers there are, the stronger the message that’s sent to TPTB that the Board deserves their ongoing support.
I’m a guest simply because I forgot to pay the last time it expired. Thanks for reminding me. 
My point was that, since it isn’t a charity (to the point that you’ve explicitly disallowed anyone giving you donation), I’m not going to pay just because I feel like the site or cause deserves it. I’m only going to pay for services rendered. And I do not have any particular need for the extra services of being a paid member.
The only exception would be if I actually thought that the site’s existence depended on my payment. Then I would also be paying for the free stuff as well, and thus it would be justified.
But, as it is, while I often enjoy being on this board, my rather limited budget means the money is better spent elsewhere. I may be able to literally afford to pay, but my money is better spent where it will matter more.
When it comes down to it, you aren’t paying for “content and commentary that has kept […] thousands […] involved and interested for over a decade.” You get all that for free. While there are a few perks to being a member, the main one is just feeling good about supporting the board.
I’m a member, but several times have been annoyed enough at what I considered to be particularly draconian moderation that I would have let my membership lapse had it been due. Once was back in the days when “Freedom of speech does not imply the right to shout “fuck you” in a crowded forum” policy was instituted. Oddly enough, I never felt the need to tell a poster “fuck you”, it just bothered me that suddenly I couldn’t.
“Broken” is a broad and undefined term.
I have problems with the server cache using the quote function and multi-quote function whereby often (but not always and not in a way I can narrow down) the edit window will not display the content I have flagged using the quote and/or multiquote buttons. That is “broken” in the sense that a stated feature does not work properly. Where the problem lies I cannot detect, and I have seen no sense anyone else is trying to find an answer.
Others have mentioned problems staying logged in. Is that a problem with the servers, or with their personal cookies? I don’t know. Is that “broken” in the sense that something that is supposed to work is not working?
Then there are “bells and whistles” not ringing and tweeting, like the indicators for which threads you have read, etc.
Yes, I can almost always read the content and make posts. That part is not broken.
So, the engine runs, but occassionally the speedometer doesn’t give an accurate reading. And the shop can’t tell me why.
Here’s the question: if every active guest payed up membership, would that provide enough funding to dedicate an IT person to running down the ongoing glitches? Or would it just mean a minor tally to help the new owners with their profit/loss balance sheet to justify keeping the site?
I don’t think it’s an either/or situation and to attempt to tie all these things together is not reasonable given the real life considerations here.
Since the Reader was acquired there’s even less personnel around now than there was to begin with so I don’t anticipate more assistance around here. Never had a full time IT person assigned to just the Dope.
I’m not sure what you mean by “either/or situation” here. They are all tied together in that they are ways the board is “broken”, for certain definitions of broken.
I do not expect a full time IT person and know we’ve never had one. I was suggesting that if I needed an excuse for why I do not pay to post here, that might be a good one. If I paid to post here, I would hope that the “broken” things would actually be fixed instead of just filed in the “we don’t know why that is happening, but at least you can still post” bin.