Member-only story
There’s Only One Way to Know If A Post Is Worth Reading.
You get a limited number of words to read in your life, so choose wisely!
“…there is more free content out there than I can ever read, so there’s a clear incentive not to pay (whether money or effort) unless the non-free content is guaranteed uniformly exceptional.”
That was one of my oldest friends, explaining to me why he would not be subscribing to read my posts. I believe that he was trying, in his way, to spare my feelings — concerned that I might think him less of a friend if he didn’t read every post. It’s a really nice gesture, in fact — especially since I know that he’s a busy professional with a very expensive hourly rate as well as a large family. Any time I can spend with him at all is precious.
Which is part of why it’s ironic, in the common sense of the term: I didn’t ever suspect he would read any of my posts. It had been a pleasant surprise when he had called me shortly after writing this one, concerned that I was badmouthing the NPO I work for (spoiler: I wasn’t, the article was about an entirely different organization).
