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Comment by wilde | Hacker News Reader

I’d file that under pirating. I don’t judge folks for pirating, but I think it’s a little rich to be like “why does anyone pay for things they could steal”.

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I find this logic strange, as I'm not obligated to watch the ads (so I use adblock), even though I know they pay for the service. By the same logic, someone may complain that I'm paying by credit card balance in full each month and still getting all the benefits while someone else is paying for the service I use (plus whatever merchant/interchange fees CCs are charging).

I use Adblock and pirate things, but I’m under no illusions about what that represents. You don’t have to modify your credit card to pay it in advance.

What counts as “obligation” to you? You can also generally walk out of a restaurant without paying.

I don't click on ads; why shouldn't I reconfigure my system to avoid them being presented to me? I don't consider this unethical at all; in fact one may argue that it's net positive for the advertiser, as I'm not wasting their resources.

What I consider unethical is shoving them into my face in every way possible (frequently in ways to trick the user into clicking). I'd appreciate it more if ads were more like footnotes (with details on a separate page) that I'd visit and review if I wanted to.

I skipped the ads in the (very excellent) podcast I listened to today. I used the forward button.

Someone paid a fortune to put ads on busses to force me to see them. If I look away, am I somehow stealing from them?

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