Beagle, the reality is that a very, very very,very, very, very, very, very small number of people have complained, compared with the total readership.
Are reader numbers declining? Quite simply - no.
Perhaps a vast number have had or now have adblocking in place. Perhaps the majority have huge widescreens in place that accomodate the ads with negligible side-effects (boom-boom).
Perhaps loads of people actually like the ads or find them useful.
I don't like the ads in the side bar - certainly not on thread pages. Nor do I like the google ads under usernames. But I simply block them all, now. I do not see a single ad, anywhere on the site.
Is that counter-productive by IB? Very possibly. But as far as I am aware, the ads are here to stay.
SD