>Do you understand the difference between a user compensating someone directly vs an ad agency or platform doing so?

No, I don't. From a business perspective its all the same revenue line item. However it does determine who I am working for.

>Or do you think users actually think 'i don't want this creator to be compensated so I'll use an ad blocker'?

I don't think they are thinking at all, besides "Wow this is cool I can bypass ads!". But I can tell you, from the creator side, it's a massive problem. 30-40% of your customers have this idea that your time has no value (and ~99% if you go the donation route, 90-95% if you paywall)

Also keep in mind, any creator can give away their work for free, but they don't. I don't think it's controversial at all to say that's intentional.