Tony,
I'd just like to add, for what it's worth, that while of course people are free to choose how they wish to participate here, 12 bucks a year is a few coffees at one's favorite coffee shop. Forum discussions often feed off of articles on the website, and various discussions in the Forum reference articles on the website. So in effect, it seems to me that people who really want to get the most out of their forum participation owe it to themselves to join the website. Perhaps a message worth sharing with the people who ask you about this.