I am not connected with FSM at all, except I have written a couple of articles for them as a free-lancer. I have nothing whatsoever to do with the forums other than as a user.
The ads I guess is one disadvantage of free forums. I probably wouldn't use this forum if I had to pay. Many other free forums I frequent also have ads.
The navigating functions may be a problem with the browser or computer you are using. I use a PC with Windows 10. I can get back to top of page by using CONTROL- (up arrow). My browser (Mozilla Firefox) has a back arrow to take me back to last page.
Having FSM host the images would be nice, but images take a whopping big amount of memory, and I can see for a small operation like FSM, the cost of servers and drives able to store all those images might be pretty expensive.
I do agree that link area for that top banner is too close to the navigation links, and there should be a space between those areas.
Not sure whether the spell check problem is a browser problem or a web site problem. Spell check would be nice, but since I am not sure whether that is a browser or web site issue I am neutral on it.