There are an awful lot of comments on this expressing disgust and outrage for the &quot;dark patterns&quot; employed by the Boston Globe to increase subscriptions and revenue and my guess is that a hefty portion of the people expressing said disgust and outrage are also using ad blockers.<p>Publishing is in a very uncomfortable place right now - at the bottom of this comment I&#x27;ve attached a 2014 report from Adobe which, TL;DR, says that most people are unwilling to pay for content online and also unwilling to see ads online. This sort of behavior is forcing publishers to squeeze revenue of any stone they can find.<p>I understand that this may not be a popular opinion here, but content doesn&#x27;t create itself, people do, and people need to make a living. Maybe before we all start admonishing the Boston Globe (founded in 1872, btw) for making a close button on a modal perhaps a tick too light, we should consider why these practices are becoming more and more common place.<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;downloads.pagefair.com&#x2F;reports&#x2F;adblocking_goes_mainstream_2014_report.pdf" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;downloads.pagefair.com&#x2F;reports&#x2F;adblocking_goes_mainst...</a>