There's only a "free rider problem" if you view the internet as a tool to generate income, as opposed to a tool you can use to offer something to the world. If all ads were gone tomorrow I wouldn't see a single website I regularly use drop off the internet. I'm becoming increasingly convinced that the quality of web content on average would skyrocket if you couldn't make a dime off of ads.
How does ads affect this hypothetical world where quality of web content skyrocket?
The web isn't a closed platform for a limited number of service. Multiple website are trying to survive without ads, Wikipedia is one of them. Nothing stop them.
Ads allow for content creator that still need to pay rent, to actually produce content while still paying rent. You know like any job.
The one that still can produce without anything, are still free to do it currently and plenty are actually doing it.
This blog post is exactly what I'm getting at. The best content comes from people who are passionate about the material, not the potential monetary income. Curiously those same people tend to have no shortage of people willing to step forward with funding to keep them doing their thing.
I don't know which sites you use specifically - but i would guess many people on hn use at least one of the following: Google Search, Gmail, Facebook, Chrome/Firefox.
