It used to be a Donate Button, that as a reward for donating allowed you to become a "Premium" user. All it did was remove the ad's, and allow you to ask for your name Color to be changed and have an Icon before your name.
Of course I donated when I had the spare cash; because even when I don't post I still read numerous threads.
If they have indeed removed it, I would think bringing it back would be nice; I've seen this forum go from just Skyrim talk, to what it is now.
Also in the case you can't load pages becase of the Advertisements. Adblock Plus is free and removes all the ads.