This is the actual question to ask. Advertising is either a convenient scapegoat by ruling classes, or it is inherently destructive. Either way, a clear headed free society would ban advertising in its current form and seek other means of providing the utility of advertisement for goods and services. At the end of the day, that is all advertising is supposed to provide. Yet somehow this relatively insignificant aspect of society is put front and center as the reason for all sort of shenanigans.
No, I would more carefully pick and choose which sites I care to visit since I have to pay for them. I can, of course, pick and choose the sites now based on how bad the advertisement is, but because advertisement is so prevalent, I don’t really get a choice because most sites use advertisement. Ironically, the sites I’d be most willing to pay for (like HN) are also the ones with few or no adverts.
The most valuable ones mostly aren't ad supported or paid anyway, and without competition from ad supported sites even more free ones for more purposes would exist and thrive (e.g. if Reddit died all those free volunteer run forums that used to be such a big part of the Web would come back)
eternalban|7 years ago
ryanwaggoner|7 years ago
21|7 years ago
Do you want to pay for all the hundred sites you visit in a year?
dkersten|7 years ago
ashrk|7 years ago