What part of what I said gave you the impression of entitlement? I didn't say "I deserve to read this without ads". I said "I stopped reading because you put a massive pop-up that filled the entire screen and prevented me from reading it, I don't find that acceptable, and so closed the tab".

Would it be better to have no feedback about why people are bouncing?

Your complaint - which is unrelated to the content of this article - is now the top comment.

I agree with you, but there are probably a lot of things we agree about, which are also not related to the content of this article.

And regarding whether your complaint is doing the author a favor? You know, it's probably not. You're just going to discourage him from writing, because then he doesn't have to deal with HN's abuse.

I think it's myopic to dictate what is and isn't up for discussion, to say "well that's not the point, just ignore it." If the ad is so distracting and off-putting that the user doesn't even get to the content, that is pretty important.

And if that post rises to the top, the message is that a substantial amount of people are having a similar experience.

It's not about your feedbacks content (I agree with you!) it's how you worded it.