We need to talk about your ad blocker

This isn’t easy to discuss. I’d be lying if I said I weren’t scared to bring it up, if I said I hadn’t rehearsed this speech in my head a hundred times. For a long time I thought that if I just put on a happy face and pretended that everything was okay between us, then everything would be okay. It’s not okay. And it will never get better if I keep burying my head in the sand. So here goes.

We need to talk about your ad blocker.

It’s come between us. I’ve always thought that in a relationship like ours, we would share everything, the good and the bad. That if I could give you my most cherished content, you’d be willing to accept some of the baggage that comes along with it. Frankly, in the early days, I think you even kind of liked the occasional 300x250 placement. It kept things fresh.

I know, we’ve both gotten older. Over time, maybe some of my placements have lost their zip. They’ve started sagging over into what you used to find so attractive about me. Well, I can’t help that. I’m not as young as I was. It takes more to keep me going these days. And yes, that means the occasional pop-over or autoplay ad. Am I really asking so much from you?

Haven’t I been responsive to your needs? It seems like every couple of years you start to think I’m looking a little long in the tooth. And I spruce myself up to fit your desires. I let you turn me all around and still I give you what you want. You push me to my breakpoints, and all this time I’ve just let you do it.

When you wanted me to change, I changed for you. I let you change me. Customize me. (I won’t even bring up that brief, regrettable period when you made me refer to a certain former president as “Drumpf.”) But these days it’s like you don’t want half of what I try to give you. When’s the last time you accepted my cookies?

Sometimes you want me to remember every last detail for you. Names, addresses, credit card numbers. Can’t you remember this stuff for yourself? Does everything have to be my job? And then sometimes you want me to just forget. You think you’re… incognito. Well, I won’t forget some of the stuff I’ve seen. I can’t.

All I’m asking is for you to give me a chance. Disable your ad blocker. You don’t have to do it on every page, but try it on this page. Today. Do it for me. Maybe we can’t make things exactly like they were, but we can try. You might even find that you like it.

One last thing. Before you go, would you mind taking a quick survey about how this conversation has gone today?