> We (technical users) cannot complain that companies should not use and abuse Ads, because at the same time we (humanity as a collective) constantly show once and again that Ads do work excellently for their intended purpose.

Just because something works, doesn't mean you should do it. Using a gun or knife to threaten someone with death if they don't hand over their wallet works. Do you think people should complain/do something about it, or should they just let muggers get away with it "because it works"?

It was just a short phrase, but was meant to refer to conversations here in HN (or anywhere ads are discussed) where it's easy to see claims about how ads are a cancer and companies "should not" use them and find a different business model.

Which I agree, but as long as society doesn't consider it harmful enough to ban it on Law (like the other activities you mentioned are), there's no reason (save the moral one) for a company to change practices. The incentives are just not there.

I definitely agree we should keep complaining. But at the same time, until things have changed radically, it would be foolish to expect that these complaints will achieve anything at all. Votes and such, that works much better!

> Just because something works, doesn't mean you should do it.

That reminds me of that chinese restaurant that sold opium-laced noodles, to keep customers loyal: https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-29312562

Ads are a theft from word of mouth.

Advertising spend should be regulated.

Adverts are a theft of time and attention, they are manipulative brainwashing by companies with more resources than the majority of countries.

Ads are fine. I've discovered so many fantastic products through them (did my research before buying, of course.)

And they are also the only business model we have been able to think of that enables the free flow of information on the scale we see today. Unless governments step up to foot the bill for Maps, YouTube, Reddit, etc, ads are all we've got.

I've never seen an ad that "stole" my time and attention. They are easy to scroll past and/or ignore. If an ad is stealing someone's time and attention, perhaps they need to work on their concentration and discipline instead of blaming the ad.

Oh, ok. So next time I get one of those full page ads that darkens the entire page - I should just concentrate really hard at reading the barely visible content. Maybe it will go away if I scroll really really fast.

This is the fault of the web developer and designers, not advertisers. Let's be clear on who to blame.

Blame can lie on multiple parties.

Companies don't spend $1000 a year to advertise to you unless they get a decent rate of return.

> Ads do work excellently for their intended purpose.

But this is the problem, because their intended purpose is not the user experience. A lot of people block the ads because they find them distracting, and actually part of the intended purpose of ads is to distract your attention to them.

There is no "users of Ad blockers" vs "technical users", using an ad blocker is not some sort of purpose of why I use a browser.

Humanity wants everything to work but we don't want to pay for it. I pay for my news but I wonder how soon news websites and related sites will start to block Firefox.