5. and 6. were addressed and i don't mind one or the other but i wouldn't use both, just a personal choice. I don't mind seeing ads but as i and others said, it felt overwhelming so perhaps you can scale down without eliminating them entirely. Try reaching a goal to keep the site running for a year like mozilla or wikipedia do, if you reach that goal through donations then the ads disappear for that year. Give people an idea of where you are in your funding goals for the site.

Keep up the good work!