Thanks for the feedback everyone. We're trying to make sure we find the balance between features, usability, and making sure the site is sustainable (If everyone turned off ads, BYC goes bye-bye).
So, if you're going to turn off ads, please at least become a GFM... which you can do by buying or by winning a contest / earning it. As soon as the dust settles from this big move, we'll be cranking out a ton of new contests!!
Regarding the side bar: We're reviewing the suggestions and ideas. Right now the side bar doesn't have a ton of stuff, but once we get "tagging" sorted out, that side bar becomes WAY more helpful, for example:
Say your browsing a thread about raccoons. If someone tags that thread as racoons, all other content cross the site that is tagged the same becomes discoverable and much is presented in the side bar as related topics, pages, etc.
We're going to be working on some really great updates to the tagging and sidebar that will make it much more useful than it is right now.
With that said, we are reviewing the feedback and discussing the options.
Thanks!