I'm a very intense user of websites and their RSS feeds. Here's something I've noticed with increasing frequency over the last 10 years or so. A RSS feed will start a story and just when the who, what, where information is suppose to start the author ends their feed. This to lure you into clicking to whatever site they are on. The reason-- so they can screw you over with popups and ads. Many have gone so far as eliminate RSS feeds harassing visitors instead to put up with their nonsense.
Speaking of popups. The first time it happened I thought it was a screw up. Then several times since a video came up which had nothing to do with the headline. Come on am I suppose to be stupid or what. It's just another way to get you click on a popup so they can feed their greed. Other sites remind me I'm using a popup blocker. Same deal. Clicking on it also allows them to earn a couple of extra bucks. If one digs into the code on a web page they will find a user clicking on anything (including a popup) can be acknowledging anything a programmer wants it to. There's nothing innocuous about them. Each serve whatever purpose a web designer wants them to. Usually I just refresh a page. If it doesn't go away I do.
Another thing I have no faith in is counters. As far as I'm concerned nearly all of them are faked Advertisers would have no way of knowing otherwise. Neither would any user of a social media website know the deck was stacked against them by other users programmers favored.
One extremely popular site ran auto play videos on top. It didn't matter how many times I paused the video it would not pause. When I closed the box another video would begin to roll. Here again every time I clicked something happened in favor of the website's greed. I couldn't even read the story I came for. This is getting beyond ridiculous to the point of unusable.
There's still another tactic. Some sites lock you out after three views. Others have taken to posting a headline with a partial article. When you click on the READ MORE button they want people to pay to read their so-called exclusive story. Many which can be found elsewhere for free.
Here's what is starting to piss me off...
GREEDTV/entertainment networks are streaming their best programs instead of airing them on cable (where we already pay subscription fees for them within our bill). People have reported movies they paid for are being removed from the cloud so they no longer can view them. Same deal goes with some subscriptions to books being removed before some were done reading them. More and more websites are so loaded with BS and ads their becoming increasingly difficult to navigate.
Look I know everyone needs to be compensated BUT there comes a point where consumers and internet users are being taken advantage of. A time when things are becoming unnecessarily complicated. My patience is wearing thin. Am I the only one?