Personally, I think it stands out. They should go back to the top, or maybe on the right. Anyone else agree?

That's kind of the point :)

I'm playing with different ad formats and placement, as you've noticed. The right column tends to be very ineffective. Left column and leaderboards beneath the nav and last post in a topic tend to be most effective.

True, but I liked it at the top..l. up to the webmaster of course.