It sometimes feels like ad-supported online offerings are a bit like cheap fossil fuels in a way. The negative consequences across the board are obvious. This g

It sometimes feels like ad-supported online offerings are a bit like cheap fossil fuels in a way. The negative consequences across the board are obvious. This goes for the short-term, immediate nuisances it creates, but people who think about the hard questions also see the long-term negative consequences way ahead. Unfortunately, advertising has also created an unsustainably high "standard of living", so to speak - you get so many services and applications for free these days that would realistically not exist or cost much more than you were willing to pay for them had it not been for advertising. Personally, I don't think there's a way out of it until someone comes up with an alternative that brings the benefits of advertising without all the downsides it has, because individual consumer incentives are just not aligned. I'll gladly pay a one-time fee for some productivity app, or a small subscription for something I use almost daily. But if e.g. goodreads wanted to charge a subscription, community size would probably dwindle, and personally I'd just start keeping a spreadsheet of my books again.