That's because the incentives are completely screwed up (to put it in the nicest terms): more page views (no matter how these come about) = more ad revenue. So what do you expect many to do?

It's a sad state of affairs because the "business" folks are now resorting to more controversial and in-your-face material that is complete garbage much like cable news and other ratings whores on television. Think about the AOL memo that was allegedly leaked. That's what the internet is turning into all at the expense of high-quality content.

This wouldn't be a problem if everyone else didn't do it, but when you can't easily monetize online, now you even have the likes of the New York Times with huge display ads that scroll down to cover up most of your screen when you visit their home page. Disgusting. Someone needs to change this. I'm looking into it.