This article in Forbes by Lewis DVorkin looks at how long-form articles are still finding a passionate audience online even though lots of people are always saying that (especially on the web) shorter is better.

I understand the confusion around this. I own a shitload of books about writing online with titles like Don’t Make Me Think or Letting Go Of The Words. I’ve read the usability studies. I’ve seen the eyetracking results.

But they never seem to mention this: if something is well-written and people are interested in its content, they will read it. Shocking, right?

Hell, look at fan fiction or the Twilight books: it doesn’t even have to be well-written.

Now, granted, the following is true (and was true before the internet): most people most of the time are not interested in most things. That's why you should generally keep things short and sweet: we’re busy people and we don’t care.

But let’s not act surprised that there’s still a passionate audience out there for thoughtful articles on interesting subjects. They never went away.