But is it a software company? I can understand the disagreement, but with the state of things it is just atrocious. I'd be fine if things weren't so invasive and were clearly ads. Pop ups, pop unders, dark patterns to cause clicks, flashy images on text pages, malware injection, 10x page load times, etc are all reasons why I personally can't stand it. It just feels like they are trying to trick me into seeing their product instead of trying to generate real interest. Until then, I personally can't support it.
I don't think most people minds ads, such as on TV, but everyone hates the ad that is 10x the volume of the show and that's how the internet feels to me currently.
Is that true? I despise ads and the entire advertising industry. I would wear special glasses that would block billboards from my vision if they existed. I pay extra for the ad-free version of Hulu. When I'm at someone's house and they have cable and the TV is on, I find ad breaks incredibly jarring.
Am I just an extreme outlier? It would make me sad for humanity if that was the case. Not minding blatant emotional manipulation in your face all day seems... not great.
I think it's more that they've been conditioned to accept ads.
if you spend a significant time travelling through rather diverse countries, one of the first thing that hits you is different laws and norms around what can be advertised and where. moving through dictatorships and seeing elections is eye opening in its "weirdness". as a non American, visiting America and seeing laws, flags, billboards and medicine advertising is weird.
anyway, my point is, if you haven't been brought up with it, you see it for what it is, and normal becomes what you experience every day. one you spend a few years ad free, it's incredibly hard to go back, it's really jarring, and you see advertising the same way you see plastered images of the dictator in absolutely random locations when you visit other countries (and there's a good reason for that, because they're fundamentally the same thing).
To be clear, it is about the type and frequency of ads. I don't live in a place with a bunch of billboards, but whenever I drive through the Bay or LA it is jarring. Same when I watch YouTube on my phone. So it a big part is how they are used and implemented. For example, I don't mind the ads when listening to podcasts (I couldn't care less that rocket mortgage wants to tell me about themselves) or DDG's sponsored links. These do not feel invasive and since I am using a free service I can accept the payment of my time/(half-assed)attention as a means of funding the service. It is this type of advertisement that I do not think the general populous minds (as a form of payment). But I am not comfortable with ads outside this scope (tracking, individualized, etc).
And I do like to pay for services to bypass ads even though I use ad blockers that mitigate them anyways.
Yes, it is a software company. And I personally agree with you, I'm just stating that not everyone does (to my eternal frustration, perhaps, but I can't impose that on others)
I don't think most people minds ads, such as on TV, but everyone hates the ad that is 10x the volume of the show and that's how the internet feels to me currently.