Banners? I'm not sure what you are referring to. I do have some problems with pop ups that appear when first visiting the site or leaving the site. I thought those were spyware on my home computer that even sometimes sends up banners when visiting santacruz.indymedia. Let me know if these are occurring for you also (or others) so I can complain to my web hosting company. There is a place for banner ads at the top of the chat room pop up window when that appears. And there is a spot for making a donation in the chat room too. None of this generates my site any money. It is simply a way that the "free" chat room service is paid for. Later on I may hire someone to do a makeover so I have IRC without banners, like indymedia has.
The first few lines at the very top of the home page direct visitors to my affiliate program for long distance service and internet access services as well as let people sign up for winning a free t-shirt. I am also hoping to unload some vending machines (to someone out of state). These and the banners at the very bottom of the page (Amazon and no sweat apparel) are supposed to make some $.
I try to keep all of this low key so as to make the site appear non-commercial at first glance. And the main point of the site is supposed to be politcal, though it appears from the statistics that just as many people visit the "store" as visit the other pages, even though the store is just a one line link. So far though I have some lookylous but few buyers. "Chat" was one of the top 300 search terms so I decided to add a chat room for that reason (as well as having it fit with the theme for the site). I may add "horoscopes" too (top 150 term). A blog or bulletin board will be added too at some point.
Another anti-war site that I like that is simillar in theme (and simillar in its semi-commercial bent) is http://www.hippy.com.
Also, the chat room really does have a live person standing by from aproximately 6-8PM everyday (working on the computer in another window while waiting for visitors, I can watch the room and give a fast response to new arrivals). I'm working on a list of subjects for the days that are not occupied by Robert's show ( http://www.freakradio.org ). So far, "Peace Friday" and "Peace Saturday" have been topics.