We're all built different with different likes and dislikes. 10 years ago it was common place to have the images on html pages. However, as with most any aspect of this industry abuse caused most webmasters to rethink the use of them.
I personally don’t have a problem with them if they have one text link or one small banner. But I remember getting subs with 3 banners at the top and endless banners at the bottom.
