BobbyBubby
There are a few things I'd like to address in your post - but first I wanted to thank you for your thoughtful reply and candor.
The first is - and none of this is intended as condescending - when you already don't care for someone - ANYTHING they do will grate on your last nerve. Anything and everything. Not just on message boards, but in real life. And that festers and grows unless you (or anyone) is able to let it go and move on to more productive things. My initial post wasn't snide. It was one where I was asking for clarification. But since you view me as a "know it all" I can understand how your gut went to that place. It might also be because quite often many posters, yourself included go to that place first too. The snarky or sarcastic comment. Tone is hard to convey on message boards - nothing new if you've ever spent time on one...
As for the latter half of your reply - I want to address it but this is for everyone, not BobbyBubby.
The best way to provide feedback about the site, content, advertising, messages, etc is to use the contact for or send an email - NOT posting threads on the message board or constantly making sarcastic or caustic comments here and there in random threads. See a typo? Rather than post a comment or start a thread - use the contact form to let us know so we can fix it. On here and in life, you can ask yourself - is it more productive to be snarky and get frustrated at these things as they come up or be proactive and assist by letting us know so we can correct the issue?
As I've also posted a few times, while the message boards get a lot of use and traffic, the majority of people visiting are spending time reading articles, news, watching videos and using other site features. I think people forget that and believe they have some sort of "ownership" of the site because they are posters. I would NEVER begrudge the fact that we love having forums for people to contribute and continue to visit over and over.
As for advertising. For part of the revenue of the site, we use placement services. Which means, unfortunately, we don't always have control over incoming ads. We DO have control, once we know about something to "kill" it. One might suggest we don't use a particular service if they are providing inappropriate ads. The fact is - they ALL work the same way. So, as I've stated before - if something objectionable pops up, please contact management. Posting threads about it and then harping on it even after the ads have been removed services no one. The very second we were able to remove offensive ads in the past we did so and responded accordingly. And I speak SOLELY for myself here, not anyone else, when I say that frankly, I don't feel I need to respond on every thread (nor do I have the time) about the current status of site progress in removing ads, threads, posters, etc. I'm sorry if that either offends someone now to read or that doesn't seem "good enough." With thousands of messages posted a day, there just isn't time.
Finally (phew....) There are people I don't care to read messages from and topics I care nothing about. I have found it's best to just ignore them and the topics than get frustrated about them. This site services ALL its members, not just any one group. We've entertained ideas of re-organizing the message board, but frankly - I think our system works best from what I've seen out there. People don't like to see tons of "sticky" messages because then they HAVE to see the same thread topics day in and day out. Plus, we only use sticky messages for key site messages we need to relay to those that only view the message board.
Without getting into a long(er) discussion on the topic - people that have been here awhile either forget or don't allow themselves to remember that new people come here all the time and if new, might not know histories, topics that have been discussed before, how to USE the search function of the site, etc. I can see how people who have been here a long time can get frustrated about that. But in short - get over it. Everyone was new once. And slamming new people just comes off as obnoxious and elitist. Rather than make snarky comments about search functions or saying the topic's been discussed, etc., why not try educating them a bit? And if you don't want to or don't care - then move on. Click out of the post. Read another topic.
The old joke of the patient going into the doctor and hitting his arm while saying "it hurts when I do this" and the doctor saying "then don't do that" is appropriate. Don't engage in behavior that you know is going to frustrate you. At least WHEN you have control over it. What's the point?
Anyway - I've rambled on long enough. And again - most (almost all the above) is NOT directed at BobbyBubby, but clarification for anyone reading...
"A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men" - Willy Wonka