[seanblanchfield]

From the publisher's point of view, ads are the only realistic way that they can pay for the expense of running their websites. The alternatives are paywalls, which don't work, or shutting down (which a bunch of sites that were using over the last year ended up doing!).

Anyway, most people install adblock because of really crappy ads that get in your face. Do you have a real problem with static image banners that don't get in the way of content?