First of all, welcome to PSP-Forum, 5uck0n1t!
I'm glad you enjoy the place and want to make it better.
On the issue of the emoticons, I like to use them because they help me get the message across. In type, lots of the emotion and intonation is lost so I put in an emoticon to change the seriousness or the way that it would be taken.
...:P
The ads around the forum are actually put here by a new Admin, Jstroh. She bought the place off of our previous owner, Luke, and has since then disappeared. The site went though a lot of changes included these ads. If many of the mods and Admins had a decision, this site would have remained ad free.
Since this is a gaming site, there are a lot of teenagers here. This crowd of people may not be the most sensitive, experienced, or knowledgeable people here, but this is PSP-Forum. If you are going to change that, then you might as well try to change the whole forum. You seem to have a prejudice against young members of the forum? I don't think that's fair. Especially on the internet, where anonymity is abundant, I think that a person should be judge on what he or she writes. How old do you want to be seen on this forum, 5uck0n1t? If you are as old as you let on, bless your poor soul. :roll: (Or are you 16 as well?)
I agree that we ban a little too much, but a lot of what you said is exaggerated. About 90% of the people that are banned from this site are trolls or spammers. They would continue to litter the forums with their garbage regardless of how much time they have. The sooner these people get banned, the less we have to deal with them. The staff at PSP-Forum won't ban someone if they have even have half an inkling of consideration or intelligence to contribute to the forum.
I think it just seems that a lot of people are banned because many of them come onto the site asking for ISOS. In case you didn't know, ISOS in PSP-Forum context are the illegal pirated versions of commercial games for the PSP. Usually people will just get a warning, but we will ban someone if their first post asks for ISOS. (Or points to websites that give them out)
Sorry for that long, rant-ish post.
Despite many of the conflicts that may occur, I hope that you still have a good time and stay at PSP-Forum. I'm sure you'll get used to it after a while.