You're going to get ads. To try to fight against the very existence of advertising is quixotic to the point of being sad. Why would you not want them to be relevant to you?
As a consumer, I would much prefer ads that are carefully tailed to my interests - software, fitness, general aviation - than see wildly different ads on the same platform, or the same 2-3 high paying ads for the latest garbage CBS sitcom. As a business owner, I would much rather pay $10-12 per click on one of my ads that is highly targeted to demographics, income, technology use, browsing history (of my sites, re-targeting etc) than pay $0.10 per click on a completely dumb ad with insight into who is actually clicking.
> "You're going to get ads. To try to fight against the very existence of advertising is quixotic to the point of being sad."
This idea is complete bologna in my opinion. People aren't trying to fight the existence of ads (e.g., movie trailers, magazines, sports ads on ESPN, maybe even the off native ad) -- people are fighting the invasive, predatory, and downright deceitful nature of the current online advertising model.
> "As a consumer, I would much prefer ads that are carefully tailed to my interests"
Don't we all want this? But when getting ads tailored to my interest comes with the price tag of having these exchanges/platforms follow me around for the rest of my internet life (or until I delete their cookies) -- the cost doesn't seem to be worth the benefit (to many, but obviously not all)
> "As a business owner, I would much rather pay $10-12 per click on one of my ads that is highly targeted to demographics, income,"
Of course. You've just exposed your vested interest in this topic. So it's not surprising that your personal opinion aligns with your business interests.
Not me. I’d rather no ads, but if I can’t block them I’d prefer irrelevant ads to targeted ads. They waste my attention equally, but one does not require the collection of my personal data.
> To try to fight against the very existence of advertising is quixotic to the point of being sad.
Yeah if this doesn't scream "astroturfing for an ad company" I don't know what is anymore.
Sorry, I'd rather keep up the good fight of being the owners of my attention. Pushing back against ads isn't "sad" or "quixotic" at all, and in fact should be celebrated.
As a consumer, I would much prefer ads that are carefully tailed to my interests - software, fitness, general aviation - than see wildly different ads on the same platform, or the same 2-3 high paying ads for the latest garbage CBS sitcom. As a business owner, I would much rather pay $10-12 per click on one of my ads that is highly targeted to demographics, income, technology use, browsing history (of my sites, re-targeting etc) than pay $0.10 per click on a completely dumb ad with insight into who is actually clicking.