How many of the "good sites" do you pay for regularly? 99.9% of ALL sites are ad-funded, good or bad. Most people, even people with the disposable income, don't pay for the good sites, esp. because their value is only fractions of a cent from that one google search a month.

My irrational hope is that the "good" sites establish a shared Spotify-esque model, where I pay a basic subscription that then gets distributed roughly by usage to all the websites. There is no chance in hell anyone is willing to have the 20 subscriptions to support all the websites they've gotten utility from (directly OR indirectly) this month.

Some do