Blasting Web Ads

The Internet used to be for a free exchange of ideas among scholars and the military -- see DARPA, and then computer enthusiasts (geeks like me). But the advent of HTTP and World Wide Web page caused a blossoming most never saw coming. Commercial web presence now drives much of the web, not academicians and geeks. This irritates many people who have been used to all information on the web being free.

If you have a real need to reduce displayed advertising, consider taking the following actions:

• Turn on your browser's Pop-up blocker. Only allow pop-ups on sites you choose.
• Use FlashSwitch to toggle Flash off/on as you want, since some ads are now done in Flash.

There's a real problem with too many people blocking ads, though, because the real challenge here is a financial one. Creating and maintaining a good web site costs money -- there's no free lunch. If too many people hide ads by using these or other methods, a web site owner might have to start charging a subscription fee to defray costs. So maybe it wouldn't hurt that much to let ads display. And if (on a site you trusted) you saw an ad that really caught your eye, you might even want to click on it.