Frankly, I hate advertising -- ALL advertising, not just web advertising -- and want the advertising industry to die in a fire. I recognize this is a bit controversial, especially with Americans (who seem unable to conceive of content industries that can exist in the absence of advertising: the BBC and the entire book publishing industry apparently exist in a cognitive blind spot), but advertising is mostly oriented around selling us stuff <i>we don't want or need</i>, and as such it shares many characteristics with spam; it's insidious, intrusive, tries to steal your attention, and works by instilling uncertainty and self-doubt.<p>Yes, 90% of the web would die without advertising -- but I think we'd be better off with just the 10% left over, because it'd be the <i>best</i> 10% (the stuff that has a viable business model that works without advertising).