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 produce no content, ad supported or otherwise. I’ve been on the WWW pretty much since day 1, so I know that ads have gotten worse. Still, if I decide to use a site, I use it according to how the owners want it to be used, or not at all. To me, that’s respect, I fully understand that I am in the minority - which is why I didn’t post this in the PopularOpinions sublemmy.