Believe it or not, advertisements can be an accessibility issue. That is why I use my ad blocker here and on every other site.
As those who follow the "A Little Bit Special" series already know, I have ADHD. It's hard enough to keep my attention focused on the diaries as it is. But with all these animated, colorful images moving beside, above, and now even WITHIN the stories, it would be absolutely impossible for me to even read any stories or diaries without my ad blocker.
In related news, I was not happy at the guilt trip on the front page. The way it was written, it sounded to me like, "If you block the ads, you are taking away the living of a bunch of people, so you should subscribe as penance." Speaking of taking away the livings of people, my husband recently lost his job due to his political activity. We can barely afford rent, let alone a subscription to a web site.
If the ads weren't animated, flashing like strobe lights, bright neon colors that hurt to look at and clash HORRIBLY with the site's theme, then I would not be blocking them. I may even look through them and click on some every once in a while, like I do with the text-only google ads. I don't know about anyone else, but I know for me, the more annoying (bright, animated, flashing, etc.) an ad is, the LESS likely I am to click on it.
Just something for the site admins to think about.
