Yes, that's exactly what I've been saying. If the user refuses to run the miner, don't serve the content. It's the exact same with ad blockers.

> my machine can render it however it likes

The cost isn't what hardware does the most work. It's what time was spent creating the content. Of course they have the choice whether to serve it or not, but don't mistake the hours put into writing an article with the milliseconds used to serve a request. You're not (not) paying for the latter.

What a strange argument, it's not about cost, it's about ownership. The creators own their content, the consumers own their hardware. Either is free to do what they wish with their piece.