It depends on how it is used, but I would have no qualms about going after the egregiously annoying and inherently dishonest ads. Those are the ones where even the advertiser knows that a click indicates absolutely no intent to explore or to buy, the reader was just tricked into triggering a booby trap. Some pages are so bad that it feels like navigating a veritable minefield, you dont know where to position your mouse to read the damn article. To all who wants to go after these guys, godspeed. I dont use adblock, but I do use flashblock and nuke javascript on all except a few whitelisted sites that I keep expanding as needed.

But seriously, I am genuinely tickled that my sarcastic comments on this post was mistaken for genuine lack of knowledge regarding paid reviews and submarine articles.

My goal was to point out that if one kills one specific form-factor it will reappear in some other form-factor and it already has; to point out that the notion that reviews, articles, word of mouth can be a substitute for ads is a silly idea [0]. Paid reviews and submarine articles being some of the other form factors. Those reviews and articles are just as dishonest if not more so and ignoring them to target others rather indiscriminately is not going to result in a better web. Thats closer to a baby throwing a tantrum than anything else.

An indiscriminate war against all ads is just childish and silly. Silly is the sweeping notion that _all_ ads are essentially motivated by malice [1] and only does harm to the reader.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15109873

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15110059