but the a/b test says you keep doing it and stay on the site longer so you must love it

The more I see things like this, the more I think the original sin of this century was analytics, rather than ads.

Ads drive analytics / analytics feed ads.

But ads have been a thing since the Egyptians started to write sales documents on Papyrus, but it is only in the last 20 years or so analytics have changed the game: I suspect that I might have been slightly of in the previous comment, maybe it is only when analytics can note the effect of individual customers actions that they matter.

The major development of advertising is notably more recent:

https://archive.org/stream/commercialismjou00holtuoft#page/n...

AdTech creates measurement problems not experienced in mass advertising, newer yet:

https://idlewords.com/2015/11/the_advertising_bubble.htm

Redirect your screams at the marketing department. There's no front-end developer in existence who wakes up in the morning and wants to do this.

Yeah this is honestly the biggest reason for me not to use medium. I genuinely cannot help selecting text and clicking the paragraphs (highlighting them) while reading. God knows how many mice have died in my care. I think it might have to do with ADHD or something, but I've never been tested.

Relevant: https://xkcd.com/1271/

Another related pet peeve is when websites use JavaScript to silently stick a citation at the end of the thing you copied.