Ryan²,

One way to think about the issue is as a cost of customizing your experience, rather like WildIrish alluded to above. As Belial has pointed out, not all pop-ups are bad, and some (pixies PM pop-up being an example) are beneficial.

Now, I both want to suppress pop-ups as a rule and permit exceptions. This functionality is not provided out of the box.

I’m sure that everyone who reads this post has, at one time or another purchased a product that costs more, but which provides one or more features which make the additional cost acceptable. This would be a similar situation. The add-on I purchased has increased the perceived (to me) value of my browser more than the amount I had to spend to get it.

Belial’s suggestion to disable JavaScript seems a bit heavy handed, but it does cost nothing. Rather than berate the sites that exploit my browser’s limitations, I though that retaining control of my experience was worth $20. Now I can rest assured that only the pop-ups I want are the pop-ups I’ll see. These plug/add ins provide an “opt in” pop-up function which may be added for free sometime in the future, but which I enjoy (for a price) now.

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Eudaimonia