Most free web sites pay for their upkeep with ads. It has been an unwritten agreement since forever (or at least as long as there have been ads on the web) that if you consume the content, you pay the creator by looking at the ads on their site.
Consuming the content without looking at the ads is like shoplifting because you don’t like the way a store’s checkout counter works and/or the fact that they want money from you at all.
I agree. Applies to piracy as well. I still partake in both - I’m just not lying to myself about what I’m doing.
I find the mental gymnastics hilarious that people perform in order to justify doing that so that they can still feel good about themselves. I think it’s quite similar to eating meat. I know the animals are suffering and it’s hurting the climate and there’s no moral justification for buying factory farmed meat but I still do because it’s so good.
Someone gets it :) You may downvote me.