Guys, if you have a forum that is targeted by spammers you probably get a decent amount of money by ads or at least you have some other model of refinancing your forum. So the $ 250 shouldn't be much of a problem as it's a one-time-fee.
If you run a commercial forum: stop weeping and pay. It's not that much.
If you have a non-commercial forum, being branding-free isn't important at all.