Fool's Gold

I use an ad blocker but I don't really want to. I think part of the devil's bargain of free access to websites is having to deal with their ads. I, personally, never found them that intrusive. In fact, sometimes the ads promoted products which genuinely interested me. Sometimes even benefitted me.

So why would I use one?

Because way too many ads are full of junk programming that tend to slow and sometimes even crash my browser. A lot! I wish I could fine-tune my blocker to exclude just those specific ads but I wouldn't know where to begin.

I am not alone here. So many users have installed blockers that many websites (my one-measly-ad-per-page site included) are seeing a steep downturn in ad revenues. One site reportedly claims it is losing as much as $500k per year, which seems like a not insubstantial sum.

This situation reminds me of a story about a bird that laid eggs composed of a rare and valuable element. The details elude me but, as I recall, no one lived happily ever after.

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Note: A tip of the old chapeau to R. Orr who suggested I add a handy "Top" button underneath the comments.

=Lefty=