Hello, welcome to the world of message boards!

As you have found out, DaniWeb doesn't support HTML tags. It's just a matter of preference, but almost all forums I visit disable HTML. It's used to prevent your HTML from messing up the rest of the page's formatting and Javascripts.

So instead you must use BBCode. They're often similar to HTML tags, except using [] instead of <>.

Sorry about the inconvenience, but it's a fact that most message boards have to accept.

As for your other questions:

DaniWeb-site problems should be posted in this forum. I assume "no support questions" means no support questions for that subject. For example, in the "Geek's Lounge", it's meant to be a forum to relax in, so Dani doesn't want people posting computer errors there.

Hehe, just use AdBlock + Firefox. The ads are needed to pay for the server fees, and it's been a much discussed topic here, to say the least.