*open blog*

Article looks good lets read it

*Scroll 1mm*

*THIS FAT ALERT BOX ACROSS THE ENTIRE SCREEN WITH NO X BUTTON SAID YOU HAVE TO REGISTER TO CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE WHAT ARE YOU GONN-*

*ctrl + w*

I hate that sort of thing. Especially since I've stumbled across three or four NY Times articles in the past week and can't read any of them without subscribing. But I can just get my information elsewhere for free.

This type of sites should be punished by using ad block. They don't deserve any penny.

I feel this on a spiritual level

I currently don't have adblock ony phone because the one I used to use ended up killing my battery life. Even idle it was draining way too fast. Trying to read articles without adblock is absolute hell. I found one site that put three separate ads between every single paragraph.

I read maybe 30% of the article and then gave up out of frustration. Even after I start blocking ads on my phone again, I'm never going back to that site.

I can understand the reasoning why those sites do it, but my reaction is generally the same.

One thing I can't help but wonder about is if the dwindling ad revenue is remotely fair.

Sure, in the web, you can track the exact clickthrough rates and stuff, but I don't know if anybody sees a Porsche billboard - or even a Coca Cola billboard - and runs off to buy the product immediately. It's all subtle "brand building". Online ads could be just the same, but noooo, here advertisers expect people to actually click on the ad to immediately visit the website of the coca cola company...

Then again, those news sites made their bed and now have to lie in it. They were greedy and didn't care one bit if they inconvenienced their readers with side banners and popup banners and layer ads and whatnot, upt to the point where ad blockers gained widespread traction.

And now they think they can strongarm people to subscribe - to each site individually, no less.

Never gonna work, imo.

Personally I just right click the popup and inspect it, deleting the html from the DOM. If they hit me with a scroll freeze as well, I hunt down that class and burn it with fire.