There was a time before ads on the internet, and there was content there. Great content even. I would love to see what people create when they do it just because they want to, on their own terms and their own time, rather than chasing what will be self-sustainable or profitable.
This still exists in some places. Archive of Our Own is a great example. SCP is another. Wikipedia and StackOverflow too, for this website's audience... Or this website, indeed
StackOverflow definitely has ads as well as an enterprise offering, and Hacker News regularly advertises jobs for YCombinator companies and it itself effectively a giant YCombinator ad.
This still exists in some places. Archive of Our Own is a great example. SCP is another. Wikipedia and StackOverflow too, for this website's audience... Or this website, indeed