First off i run and digital download online store using amember with the phpbb forum plugin and I dont know why but people keep signing up for the "support forum" free signup and nobody ever posts anything in the forum. On the signup page it says "Access to the support forum but does not give you access to any downloads." Are people thinking they'll get to download stuff with this or something? I get 3-8 signups a day and maybe 1 paid membership a week. instavalue.com
That's not a bad conversion rate, people find your site and want to poke around (hence free) some decide that they want what you have and pay. Just like owning a shop front, loads wander in and browse some buy. They go to the forums to see what your users say normal practice. FWIW maybe you need to be a bit clearer about benefit, those scripts are they clones? People might assume that they are rip-offs or soemthing?