[mbleigh]

No one forces you to look at ads. You choose to visit websites that display ads. I don't personally understand why ads are such a big deal to some people.

That being said, I do sometimes acquire shows with unfriendly streaming situations through...other means, which is pretty much the same thing at the end of the day.

[alexanderss]

No, users have no idea how many or what kind of ads are going to be on a website before they get there, and some content has ads, others don't. Just a few examples are pre-roll ads on YouTube videos (some have them, some don't, it's not a choice), news articles with ads mid-paragraph, or sliced up into slideshows with ads to continue consuming or receive any content. You may not personally understand how insidious ads can be, but 450 Hacker News readers do. I didn't even cover the issues with tracking, privacy and potential malware.