Wherever I go, I often see the sentiment “This website has ads, so it’s trash” pop up in conversations. And honestly I don’t quite get why. 90% of the internet has always had ads, you just scroll past them and mind your business. At least they’re personalized now so you can pick a topic you like instead of diapers and miscellanous spammy trash as there once were.
And we were content to be back when it was a single banner. But then they started flashing, and crowding the screen, and popups that got so obtrusive they would sometimes spawn forever and crash your PC.
You are almost certainly using a browser with a popup blocker, because advertisers can never just let it be: they need to become more and more obtrusive until they start harming their customers. Protecting yourself from ads is a necessity.
Every modern browser has that built in, and phones actively block most of it. Unless you’re surfing the internet on IE4 or whatever, you are already filtering a good chunk of the dreck, because someone else saw fit to protect you from it.
Yes, the internet has always had ads, and us not being ok with it is why you’re able to browse at all without infinitely spawning popups in front of you.
Also, you realize you’re posting on an ad-free platform?