>> "This whole issue is about Human Decency 101. If you behave like an entitled asshole, don't be surprised people don't do what you want them to."
That could also apply to you. You want content. You don't want to pay for it - but you will view ads. But then only ads that fit your specific set of criteria.
Adjust your expectations. As some other commenter wrote, publishing a web site is a gift you make to your viewers. By very definition. I don't really understand where did people get that expectation that you can just publish something on-line and the money will flow to you.
If you want me to pay for your gift, say it up-front. Put on a paywall, ask for a donation, or if you really want to stick to ads, kindly ask me to disable blocking. I'll happily comply.
Ok, I shouldn't have said "by definition", the phrase I'm looking for is "self-evident".
I put some information on an open-access network for everyone to see. How this is not a gift? What in this process entitles you to expect people to pay you without you explicitly asking for said payment?
There are social rules and expectations around such things and they're older than Internet. Complaining about people blocking crappy ads is just being an asshole. If you want to get paid, say it up-front. If you need resources to support your work, again, say it up front. Many will happily comply. And if you don't want people accessing your work for free, introduce a paywall. Just avoid this whole "give for free and guilt-trip later" business model, because it's malicious behaviour.
It's not a gift because you only put it up there with the intention of making money. But you are right, they should probably just paywall their stuff instead of fighting adblockers. Then we'll continue to use user-agent and referer trickery to get around paying money for content.
Probably, but at this point social expectations start to shift towards legitimizing their cause. I do skip paywall from time to time - but only on articles someone shared with me, and I don't feel good about it. In other cases, I just go somewhere else (I might buy subscription if I really care about that particular publisher/content).
That could also apply to you. You want content. You don't want to pay for it - but you will view ads. But then only ads that fit your specific set of criteria.