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    It is baffling how a new user that just joined came to the same exact conclusion that many regular users have been pointing too for a while. Bending the userbase patience like a twig until it breaks will only get more user to revoke whatever amount of good will they had for this network and just start to block everything. Yet this simple truth seems to hard to comprehend for the company. Go ahead Stack Exchange, go ahead Prosus. Continue in what is becoming the longest seppuku in history: the place on the Guinness World Record is yours. Commented Dec 12, 2025 at 8:39
  • another hypothethical point I have but I don't know if I Should include it cuz its so speculative: if the ads is going to be camo ads (not easily ad blocked) then maybe a race would begin? 1) people try to block ads -> 2) company tries more camouflage on the ads -> and so on (note this is a stretch) Commented Dec 13, 2025 at 12:58
  • I thought of a smaller "solution" to this and..It would really just be to do ads in good faith because yeah Commented Dec 13, 2025 at 13:16
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    @Jane That was how it worked originally! Stack Overflow had advertisements, but they would not be distracting. That was the vision of Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky when they founded the site. Commented Dec 15, 2025 at 7:51
  • Ah, thanks! and yes! @S.L.Barthisoncodidact.com Commented Dec 15, 2025 at 13:40
  • @ꓢPArcheon I would argue that it is the opposite of baffling. If someone completely unfamiliar with the specifics walks in and points out the conclusion that the regulars have been dealing with for a while, the problem is clearly something obvious ;) In this case it is just the SE/SO people who actually need to recognize that there is one to begin with... Commented yesterday
  • @controlgroup Yep, that was me being sarcastic. I was precisely pointing out that even relatively new users can see the evident problem in trying to increase ads incomes in a way that will only make more users block all ads in the first place, yet apparently this is simply too hard to grasp for the company big marketing experts. Commented 22 hours ago
  • @controlgroup I am starting to wonder if this constant shooting themselves in the foot isn't deliberate: killing the site while pretending to be working to save it so that the community takes the blame and Evil Inc. may finally shut everything down and walk away with all the site data to sell to the best offer Commented 22 hours ago