I've upgraded firefox to 3.6.6 from the testing repo. Opening forum.vectorlinux.com with ff's error console gives "Security Error"s related to google ads. I notice all the banner ads load, but don't animate. I'll call it a "feature", as the "splunk" animation is really annoying and uninformative

Seriously, I'd bet your Dillo problem is the same issue or related. If much of open source is now considering these site's actions a security hole, the sites themselves may change if you wait. No idea whether you can bypass it, but an idea that you may not, in the end, wish to.