Unfortunately, I think that "makeover" did have a widespread affect on the way people looked at what they thought was "their" forum, in some small way.
Suddenly there were membership fees in order to have certain "rights" to post your equipment, signatures, and things like that. Things that participants were already used to being able to do, and suddenly were no longer able to do.
I'm sure contributions are needed, but the strategy to develop more contributions that was incorporated had the affect, I think, to drive people away, make them feel marginalized and ripped off - just from a simple feeling they got. Like someone just stole your candy.
I'd say open the forum back up to signatures, equipment lists, etc. This may be too late to do that effectively though, because people remember what happened and they still feel the sting of the carpet being pulled out from under them.
This is something to consider, even if you have always been a financially contributing member.
It made the forum a "stratified" environment where this person got more privileges than that person, however justifiable that approach may have seemed at the time to the originator of the idea. All of the sudden people with "x" title had more status than others - something like the social structure in some countries where only certain titled people can sit at certain tables in restaurants. Americans don't dig that type of arrogant imposition of social status that's based on financial contribution and a sort of economic status. It made people that didn't donate feel like they were lesser members and looked at as free loaders; consequently getting limited rights on the forum. That turned some people off believe it or not - even if you think such an outlook is preposterous.