No, no paying required. You have to have been here for two weeks and have posted 50 times. Then you can fill out a form saying why you want to be a full member and stuff. I think the form can be found in a link in one of the subforums or something (can't find it, probably because I'm a full member now) Oh, and welcome to EC. Hope you find what your looking for.
Hi, Jon. There's no cost. You need to have 50 posts, at least a decent proportion of which are somewhat substantive (asking questions, offering advice, etc.) rather than just fun and games or one-word answer posts. And you need to have been a member for at least 2 weeks. Once you've done that, just fill out the full member application, and the staff will review your application and let you know within a few days.
Hi there! With full membership status you can Private Message other full members. As a regular member you can only PM staff members. Also, full membership will give you access to the chat room.
