> Is there any more annoying popup than the newsletter popup?

Rhetorical I'm sure, but actually yes! The popup that tries to get you to switch to the app when you are actively trying to give the offender money! eBay is a notable offender here (it pops up when I search for stuff to buy; why would you interrupt that?)

Sigh. You're correct.

I'd give you an award but you've hit your maximum number of free things this month. Make an account, pay for a subscription, and sign up for needless spam then we'll let you have it along with some ads for good measure.

Personally I don't mind an offer to subscribe to the newsletter but Substack is way to aggressive. They show the prompt even before I have finished the article (How do I know if I want to subscribe?) and obscure the article (actively working against what they know what I am trying to do). So I now just immediately back out when I see that. I won't visit sites that are purposely harming the experience.

Sites used to open up popup windows, then browsers got better at blocking them. But instead of taking the hint that people didn’t want that, they just moved the popups inside the page content. The prevalence of ad / tracking blockers is entirely due to the user-hostile actions of site owners.

Physical feels that way to me sometimes. In the US, I get assaulted on a constant basis by mailers and ads for things I never expressed any interest in. Waste of time, waste of paper, waste of resources.