I have no issue with a few seconds delay when opening the website. Its message is not intended to make low income users feel uncomfortable or anxious. It’s not there if you are a contributor.

Ditto on the pensioner, for me, I'm 81. I signed up for a while back then after a few months I found out that the minimum (2.50 GPB = 3.18 USD) per month, not per year. As having [had] several web sites myself, I know the expense and time it takes to keep the sites up and running. That's why I recently cancelled my hosting and domain names. Hard to justify paying more for my web sites annually then I do on my RC hobby.
I do find the "9 seconds delay" or "6", or whatever as being annoying, much more intimidating than the ads. I hope this will revert back. Remember the days when YouTube was free?
Thank you to those that support modelboats.com site!
Lew
Florida 😎, USA😍

Yes. There is a 9 second delay, while it asks you if you would like to sponsor the site. To be honest, if I used the site like I used to, I would do it. But as I am now a pensioner, and a veteran, and also disabled (lucky me), I cannot afford to. So I will have to wait for the 9 seconds it takes to leave the sponsor page. As is my status in life, I can afford to wait 9 seconds once in a while 😉
Ps.. Hope you are all okay ? 🤗
Cheers, Dave W 👍

What 9 second wait are you speaking of? I do not find that to be the case for me. I use Firefox as a browser and there is no delay of any kind. It does take a moment for all of the page content to load, but that has always been the case.
Without being snarky, perhaps the delay is on your server's end, or perhaps your browser's cache is full.
Have a great day.😊