People want to have read “longform” (whatever that means), but if presented with either attentively reading a 10,000-word article or checking social networks and munching on some listicles, longform usually loses. If there’s a paywall in front of it, it gets even worse. You can monetize people’s good intentions even if they’re not backed up by consistent actions, but not for long.

– Marco Arment on Longform Overload

Information may “want to be free,” but there’s still no free lunch.

BTW How many people have spent more time thinking about what people aspire to read and what they actually do read than Marco Arment?