Bit of a silly analogy but think about it like a brick and mortar store getting pissed off at you for not looking at the display company X are paying them for.

If they can not prove that enough customers are interacting with the display though sales or information requests they won’t be able to sell the space for as much next time. So the B&M has an incentive to get you to engage with the display and you just walk right on past it... Shame on you...

So you manager of the store says that you can not browse the rest of his store until you agree to looking at the display.

Dunno about you but I wouldn’t want to visit that store again.

My point is instead of trying to turn them into customers you are turning them away at the front door without given them a chance to become customers. Sure some (most) won’t actually buy anything and just browse around but putting up such a barrier will make sure they won’t become a customer.

If they don’t turn into a subscription website and remain advertiser based, how will they ever “convert” you? Would you ever be convinced to whitelist their site?