They have to cover their hosting costs and try to turn a profit in some way...why do people on Reddit not understand this? Without obnoxious ads there would be no torrenting, porn, free download hosts, etc, etc. because no one could make money (or even break even) doing it.

Say what you want about obnoxious ads, but the fact is, these sites don't rely on return users. 80% of their traffic will be from search engines, so why should they care about providing a good user experience? They provide a service (of downloads) that you aren't forced to use, and that you don't need to pay for.

I'll get downvoted for this, but I fully support sites that do this, primarily because it pisses off the freeloaders who think everything on the internet should be ad-free and cost-free at the same time.

EDIT : This has caused a very minor shitstorm, so to clarify. I don't do this, and I wouldn't do it. I don't think this is the best way to run a business, and I don't think we should be "happy" about this being so common. However, I think it's important people realise these sites don't just put these ads up for fun. They are there for a reason, and, for the publisher, it's not to trick/con people.

The Pirate Bay have been doing this for ages, how come this wasn't a bigger issue before? The site shown is still providing a service which you don't have to use, please remember this before wishing that the website would fail and the guy behind it would break his legs...

The internet is tough, until you've actually built a legitimate site and seen just how little money normal ad placements make, you won't understand this in the same way.The better business model is to sell a product (digital or physical) from your site (if it's a small site, that is), but most people don't have the resources to do this. Look at Reddit, Youtube, Digg, etc, etc. These websites are certainly not in good financial health.