I don't know about the rest of you but the ads on this site are getting ridiculous. I can deal with the ads on the sides and just under the forum selection bar, but now I'm starting to get ads that pop up in the center of my screen and ones that cause me to accidentally click on them (like when your transitioning to a new page and an ad strategically loads up just before you click on a common destination). It reminds me of those YouTube videos that are 2 minutes long when the creator adds all the monetization options possible and it ends up being a 10 minute video...

 

Although the site is free to access, it is not free to operate. Advertisements help pay the costs of running a site that can't run on a $9.99/month GoDaddy plan. Additionally, the site has been for-profit company owned for the last 10 or so years and employs people (developers, software/hardware techs, marketing, etc.,) here in the US.

Ads that pop up in the center of the screen, to my knowledge, are not intended unless you're not logged in. Those not logged in have always seen more ads. The solution is to log in and stay logged in. The ad you describe, to my knowledge, should expand if the mouse is over the ad to active it - something that's been a practice online for some time. If this is not the case, send a screen capture to my email jt@thirdgen.org along with details (browser, type of device accessing, logged in or not, etc.).

Otherwise, as noted, advertisements support this site so that can be freely used and accessed as it has for the last 22 years.