I'm not a fan of them either, but think of it this way: Jon has undoubtedly spent a great many hours of his personal time creating guitartricks.com, and a hefty sum of money (cost of domain, cost of bulletinboard, cost of those monthly prizes he gave away). This site doesn't generate him any significant income (although if he wanted to, he could place a fee for all the tricks and use of the board), the only money he gets is through the advertising banners when someone clicks on them and the pop-up window. So if he wants to use the pop-up banner, I say far be it from us to criticize them.