Would you prefer I turn back time and hide the fact that its a 1 hour delay? If you were mining here continuously you would never know the delay existed in the first place.
What I prefer is irrelevant since I can't stop you from making any changes you wish to make. It's your pool after all. What I expected is transparency about the effect these recent changes had on the mining experience at BTC Guild. That way people can decide if this pool is a convenient place to mine.The point of 2.5% is invalid insurance. Quite frankly I'd prefer if people donated 2% rather than 2.5%, because I make more profit out of those donators.
I personally valued being able to have instant access to the rewards I've earned much higher than the invalid insurance. Over the long term invalids are not that significant specially since you do such a good job reducing the possibility of them happening.
I've been mining here for a looong time, long before the pool even reached 4 digit blocks and always donated 2.5% since I can remember because it gave me instant access to my rewards. I no longer have that so that makes the decision for me about whether or not donating is worth it anymore. Ads and smileys can be easily blocked, thanks for disclosing the information when I asked about it though.