It's not about not wanting to support independent bloggers. It's about making sure that unsuspecting users don't accidentally download malware when they're doing something mundane like downloading their web browser.
In the age of the web, Adblock is the new anti-virus.
Also the javascript late load "oops click" tricks they're pulling to scam advertisers now (google search, youtube, bing search - all use late load javascript to get misclicks).
Same here. I couldn't be bothered to install AdBlock for many years, but the mandatory before-video ads were the straw that broke the camel's back for me.
> Also the javascript late load "oops click" tricks they're pulling to scam advertisers now (google search, youtube, bing search - all use late load javascript to get misclicks).
I've lost track of who is trying to scam who. The users are collateral damage anyway.
That's because people in general don't mind wasting a bit of screen space but the mandatory wasting of time is of a completely different order. Time is our most precious capital.
Of course, go back a year or so and everyone was screaming at ad providers for using blocking JavaScript.
On the other hand, it takes a long time, but they do learn to be more cynical about the Internet if they're exposed to its raw state.
My rule of thumb is "if nobody would write this without getting paid for it, then somebody probably got paid for it."