In Star Trek, they have a money-less society which comes about as a result of replicator technology: since people can assemble molecules into anything they need from a specification, there's no need or motivation to buy and sell things. Instead, the motivation to do things becomes based on reputation or seeking meaning or status.
People usually accept that story as a sensible possible future. But to use the language and ideas of many people today, the replicators in Star Trek would need to be ad-supported. I.e. the replicators would have to show ads to the people who use them, with the people who make the specifications for the different things to replicate getting money from the advertisers.
But doesn't the Star Trek story seem saner? Why then is it hard to accept webpages and software made and shared by people who are just wanting to share it for the same reasons as the characters in Star Trek? Why is it hard to accept that there are enough of us to provide for our basic technological needs? Software and information can be replicated for free, just like in Star Trek. We don't need ads.
@adamrichard
You're describing a post-scarcity economy, which we have now for information and media. And we have enough productivity now to provide for the basic needs of everyone in the world.
The reason why we still have advertising and why many people are lacking in their basic needs, has to do with human nature and power. A significant minority of people seek power and control over others and they are artificially maintaining scarcity in order to maintain control.
This is why we still have advertising. The advertisers want to control the content of the media in which they advertise. Formerly advertising was about selling products and services, but that doesn't happen much anymore -- now it's mostly about control. And those who want to control others will sabotage any efforts that attempt to undermine the system they use to exert that control.
This is why systems / networks / communities that are developed which are not ad-supported or otherwise locked into the current economic system often fail -- because they are sabotaged by those who want to maintain the current status quo.
It takes a lot of planning and effort to design and build a network or community that can withstand such attacks by those incumbents.