[dspillett]

> I'm curious why you aren't anti-ad.

Mainly because to an extent they are a necessary evil, or at least we'll never convince enough of the right people that they aren't necessary.

> Ads are psychological manipulation.

They are currently, which is why they get blocked by my anti-stalking-and-other-dickishness kick, but they don't have to be. A simple advert (image and a little text, not directly obscuring what I'm trying to read or bouncing around to break my attention from elsewhere artificially) for a product that might be relevant to what I'm looking at, doesn't seem evil to me. Unfortunately advertises are not satisfied with that and want full-page adverts with forced interaction and full user background tracking.