The ads on default search partner is a fine compromise - reality is that projects need money, and if this helps them (and makes it less dependant on donations) then great! As long as the ad blocking happens elsewhere, it is fine.

I need to move back to waterfox again...

Reminds me of Netscape Navigator adding a popup blocker, but also adding the ability to allowlist sites - so that it could have the Netscape website allowlisted by default.

Yes, enabled everywhere - and it will just be a simple toggle to also enable it on the search partner page, no hoops to jump through.

This is how we keep the lights on