I couldn't even read the article because half of it was covered by a newsletter form. No close button. Showed up before I even read one paragraph. Why is every website like this these days?
At this point I think the content is just an annoying leftover thing, like an appendix, that often gets in the way of Engagement and Brand Building and Reader Lifetime Value.
One day soon the article text will be generated on the fly by ChatGPT based on whatever data it can infer about you, and only enough will be created to get you to sign up for the newsletter so you can be spammed with more personalized content that drives greater engagement.
The AI alignment folks were on to something with paper clip maximizes, but the real thing is turning out to be engagement maximizers.
Not even just that, but half of the content is just distracting GIFs. I can’t focus well on reading content when there are videos playing on the same screen. This is also a trend that needs to stop.
