As you know, MathOverflow has a special status in the Stack Exchange family, and (by a special agreement) it doesn't display any kind of ads nor links to the hot network questions in the sidebar.
Would it be possible to remove also the links to the global meta questions in the "featured on meta" top-right sidebar? For instance currently I would remove the two top links, leaving only the third one.
I don't find them particularly useful. To me they are just fluff and they make our meta questions stand out less; they take up premium space in the top right part of the page "above the fold".
Also, under a suitable interpretation of the expression, arguably they can be considered "internal advertisements", and so they would be forbidden by the agreement between MO and SE, which can be found in this answer by François G. Dorais♦. The relevant part is:
- It is understood that MathOverflow shall consider in the future the placement of certain announcement services like job listing in the future. Stack Exchange shall not run advertisements, including internal advertisements, on MathOverflow 2.0 (or any subsequent version thereof), without specific and advance written consent of the MathOverflow.
EDIT: everything I wrote applies also to the SE blog entries:
EDIT: and yet another example of blatant self-advertising that does not do us users any good:
EDIT: clearly this one fits the definition of "internal advertisement" and is a violation of the agreement: