I (still) don't get it. Over a year ago, just after eGroups became Yahoo! Groups, I ranted about how ridiculously difficult it was to pay for a list to be ad-free. First, they hid the information, then you actually had to mail them a check. At the end of that post, I said," Perhaps it was just one of those 'yeah, we gotta get around to that' things at eGroups....Perhaps now that Yahoo! is in charge, such a change is imminent. Perhaps not." Perhaps not was the right answer. As far as I can tell, it's no longer even an option to have an ad-free Yahoo! Group. And this, at a time when:

1. The ads on the lists are getting increasingly annoying. (I'm hearing more and more complaints about them on lists I'm on/run.)
   
2. There is less money in them than ever.
   
3. People are more willing than ever to pay for services on the web.
   
4. Yahoo! has stated over and over that they are trying to get more of their revenue from sources other than advertising.
   
5. They are pushing "premium" versions of other services like crazy, which would seem to be directory corollaries of Groups.

What am I missing here?