I can confirm that the 'best experience' for browsing the site is with NoScript. The page loads lightning fast and I can read the stories and see the images just fine. If I need progressive enhancement I know how to selectively enable it. I see these stories about adblock detectors and so far they all seem to rely on JavaScript. JavaScript is great if it is adding a function or some content I want, but unfortunately that's not what usually happens.

I think we've reached a tipping point recently where the relative annoyance of disabling Javascript is now less than the benefit of allowing it everywhere.