So are the advertisements here to stay for everyone’s view?
I’m curious about the same thing. If I have to put up with ads, that will be a deal breaker.
I’m not seeing any ads, but then I’ve got multiple adblockers running.
I see the ad too. It is small now and unobtrusive but I think we should nip it in the bud now before we get large and/or malware-ridden and/or animated ads.
I see ads half the time and a blank ad banner taking up space the rest of the time. I prefer to see nothing. A blank ad taking up space is just as disruptive as an actual ad.
Not too long ago, I was limited in bandwidth and not having ads was great. It’s possible I may end up having limited bandwidth in the future, so this needs to be addressed now.
Does the SDMB have any control over the ads here or does Discourse control them?
In another thread (topic? whatever we call them now), I noted that I think what’s disconcerting about the ads is that some are are embedded in our posts — and their content sometimes closely mimics the post in which they’re embedded. Sometimes, the very same phrase or sentence! This blurring between our posts and ads disturbs me a little, but I’ll probably get used to it.
I see no ads, I have adblock plus running.
I’ve seen one message board where every thread had an ad in between the OP’s body and signature. It was ugly.
Yes, it’s tough to see the argument for being a paid member if everyone sees the ads.
(I am paid up, and I am seeing the ads, if that wasn’t clear.)
If Discourse is lower-cost than V-Bulletin was BECAUSE everyone has to see ads, then we may just be out of luck. I hope that’s not the case.
I’ve not seen a single ad. Why people don’t just use AdBlock, I do not understand.
As I mentioned in another thread…I’m an idiot. Those weren’t ads I saw embedded in posts — they were boxes containing previews to a poster’s links!
They sure look like ads. Big headline, an image, some text…
I don’t like these — they take up space and energy from the actual post. If I want to see a link, I’ll click on your bit of linked text, thank you very much.
That’s what I do–use AdBlock.
I have a good reason for not using an ad-blocking addon.
One of my hobbies involves getting information from various sites, many of which are local newspapers in various cities and towns. These newspapers are usually hurting for money, because the internet clobbered one of their traditional sources of income (want ads). If I block their ads, they don’t get that little bit of cash from my seeing their ads. So by blocking their ads, I could contribute to the demise of these newspapers, which will then hurt my hobby. (Yes, I know, above I said that I once had limited bandwidth. My hobby suffered due to that but I was willing to live with that for the long term viability of the hobby.)
But I still don’t want to see ads here. The lack of ads was the only real advantage to being a Charter Member here. I spend a lot more time here than I do on the hobby.
Ok, I’m seeing ads and now it’s a Pro Trump one. I’m on my iPad, using safari. That just ain’t right.
ETA: oh, a little birthday cake!
I consistently get “Pray for President Trump” ads, complete with praying hands graphic. That I’m seeing any ads at all totally pisses me off but political ads are particularly crappy.
That’s awful. I hope this cleaned up soon.
To update (as a paid member): I’m still seeing an ad at the bottom of each page. At the top of each page is a white space that’s headed “ADVERTISEMENT,” but the ad has apparently been blocked.
So that’s some improvement. But it would be nice if the ad at the bottom went away, too, and also the big empty space at the top. This site does seem to be in love with big empty spaces, so I won’t spend too much energy hoping for change. 
I’m paid up.
I see little embedded ads, targeted at the specific topic. I just saw one in the “Am I going to get COVID from my A/C” thread. It was for a new A/C.
This still hasn’t been sorted?
I’m logged in and I see “advertisement” at the top and bottom of each page, with occasional actual ads slipping through the ad blocker. That’s not supposed to happen for members.