1998
Google engineers want to make ad-blocking (near) impossible
(stackdiary.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Erm.. I didn't see where anyone blamed it all on ads alone. Haven't seen anyone else proselytizing their usage either.
But that'd almost seem like a mischaracterization eh? We're on the same page, trying to 'win' an argument nobody's having makes one of us look a bit goofy.