Ever since the first publication rolled off a printing press, most have been supported in part by advertising revenue. Like you, we find a lot of advertising annoying although some can be quite entertaining. The real purpose is of course for the advertiser to make you aware of his or her product. For this he pays some money to the media which in turn helps to support the publication in question.
The banner ads that appear on our site are managed by a third party which reduces the amount of control we have over their content as well as the other way around. We think that's a pretty fair quid pro quo. At a minimum, we ask you to accept the intrusion in good grace and if some advertised product or service possibly meets a need, why so much the better.