atmoTwitchTVJohnCriticizing the cost of something that is completely optional and doesn't hinder the functionality of the site is a joke. I have and will continue to support TF2 as much as possible. If $5 a month helps that cause, good.Telling someone that their opinion is a joke is not a good way of convincing them to come around to your viewpoint. Enough people have expressed reasonable misgivings in this thread that perhaps there is some value in meeting their requests.
And you might ask, why should you care that their "joke" opinion is changed? Well, because the end goal is "to support TF2 as much as possible", so the more people on board with this the better.
I am not going for it at the current price. I do not believe that the ~8,000 users enigma referenced each amount to $5 in advertising and server load per month, nor even $2.50 if you consider site running costs as a separate overhead.
Premium features are not designed for everybody. That's not how website/game monetization models work. Is a League of Legends skin worth $20? No, it offers no functionality. 2-3% of the player base will buy it, though. If you can convert 2-3% of your users into paying users, you're doing something right.