You can register for an InsideFlyer magazine subscription (or the cheaper InsideFlyer web site access) and then apply that towards a FlyerTalk Premium Subscription, which removes ads (which can drastically speed up the page load times) and also allows you to store 2,500 PMs instead of 500 (comes in handy if you use PMs for regular communication).

Details are here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/claim_subscription.php

FlyerTalk is actually now owned by a relatively large, publicly traded company called Internet Brands. It was sold by Randy Petersen a couple of years ago--one of the announced benefits was that IB had the capital to upgrade FT's servers to support the ever-growing size of the community. They're supposedly profitable, so I don't think they need funds to help upgrade the servers--rather, they just need the occasional kick-in-the-pants to convince the executive leadership that we're worth the money they could choose to spend on us instead of distributing dividends to their shareholders. However, if I'm not mistaken, InsideFlyer itself is still owned by lil' ol' Randy Petersen, and so your InsideFlyer website or magazine subscription will greatly help his good cause (as well as provide you with tons of useful information). There may be some revenue sharing going on behind the scenes (though I'd guess it's just a courtesy that IB extends to Inside Flyer--either that, or it's just a remnant from before the pre-buyout days that they haven't bothered to close!), but even though FT is now owned by a Big Evil Conglomerate, your subscription will still help a good small(ish) business. ^

As for the self-help group: it's called a DO...