I think they symptomatic of an immature system.  That&#x27;s to say one which isn&#x27;t well regulated.<p>They are the result of site owners trying to make their sites sustaining or profitable and we have some trying very annoying ways of monetizing, and on the other hand we have users wanting free access to everything.<p>The result is site operators getting more desperate using more invasive techniques driving more users to use ad blockers and siding by default with people who want everything free.<p>In the end, the piper needs to get paid.  Will micropayments be the answer or will only businesses for whom the www is essentially branding and marketing survive?  I don&#x27;t know.  Certainly hope it&#x27;s not public radio donation style funding.<p>That said, paid content masquerading as journalism is the worst.