So, I'm probably going to make myself horribly unpopular with the community right now by siding with Cricket.
Running a site is EXPENSIVE. It's not the cost of hosting, or bandwidth, or any of that, it's the labor. All these ads bring in pennies, which adds up, but still.
I hear a lot of requests for the new owners to buy an old trooper and - good lord! - go off roading. Right. I run the School of Nursing site for Duke University - you want me administering your meds the next time you're in the hospital? Didn't think so.
Besides, I'll bet small money this site doesn't generate enough revenue to PAY for an old Trooper in decent shape. Anyone wanna donate their restored rig? Didn't think so.
This isn't Facebook, and we're not the TikTok crowd. The ads are annoying, but here's the facts: They have to make money, or we don't have a site. I suspect you'd all be shocked to see the Google Analytics for this site compared to one with major traffic. We're probably talking less than 1/1000th.
Oh, and if this was MY site? I'd be THRILLED with how smooth the transition was. Kudos.
Now, all that said, the banner is LAME. I'm sure it's hard to find stock photos of old troopers that you can use, but I know for a fact that setting up a rotating banner of member rigs (or trail pics) is trivial. Do it. It's a VERY cheap way to make people VERY happy.
Now, let the flames begin!