It is one fewer than we had just a month ago. A month ago we had 2 lines at the top of the thread listings. I removed them both. Now there is only this one. A net reduction of one. Also we use that spot for public service announcements not just ads. It is important to inform members of many features we have here that they may not know about. My click data already suggests this is working well. Give it a few days I'm sure it won't bother you quite so much. Anything different requires a short adjustment period.