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Longform.org is shutting down its article recommendations service

longform.org

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Re: Longform.org is shutting down its article recommendations service

#91

Post by whoibrar »

probably_wrong wrote: post #32

I am sorry to see them go, but more for the principle than for the site itself. I gave up on the site when I realized that I was spending more time scrolling for something interesting than actually reading articles. Even now, out of their top 10 "best of 2021" I find only 3 of those even remotely interesting, and IMHO one of them is garbage (I read it when it came out). The type of articles I like the most are those…

> The type of articles I like the most are those when someone takes a ridiculous amount of time to explain something mundane.

I have been thinking about this for a while and it now just clicks.

Re: Longform.org is shutting down its article recommendations service

#92

Post by gxqoz »

alexilliamson wrote: post #53
guiseroom wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Longreads is also great. https://longreads.com/

Longreads is great... I actually thought that was the one shutting down and just breathed a sigh of relief

Longreads seemed to have an editorial shift a few years ago. Among other things, it no longer commissions much (if any) original stories. And the linked stories mostly fall into the personal essay camp which I'm personally less interested in. I generally liked the longform.org mix better. Sad to see them shut down.

Re: Longform.org is shutting down its article recommendations service

#93

Post by gxqoz »

optimalsolver wrote: post #7

Alternatives: Arts & Letters Daily : https://aldaily.com/ Aeon: https://aeon.co/ Nautilus: https://nautil.us/ Hacker News: https://news.ycombinator.com/

There are a bunch of Substack newsletters that are basically collections of links to longer pieces. The one that most matches my interests is "Links I Would Gchat You If We Were Friends": https://linksiwouldgchatyou.substack.com/. The only downside is that it doesn't publish that frequently.

Literary Hub's weekly roundup is another good source of essays that take maybe 10 minutes to read. I find the meat of the newsletter is the bottom where they link out to excerpts from new books. https://lithub.com/. One good example: "Did the Russian Wizard of Oz Subvert Soviet Propaganda?" https://lithub.com/did-the-russian-wizard-of-oz-subvert-sovi...

Re: Longform.org is shutting down its article recommendations service

#94

Post by wahern »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #54
probably_wrong wrote: post #32

I am sorry to see them go, but more for the principle than for the site itself. I gave up on the site when I realized that I was spending more time scrolling for something interesting than actually reading articles. Even now, out of their top 10 "best of 2021" I find only 3 of those even remotely interesting, and IMHO one of them is garbage (I read it when it came out). The type of articles I like the most are those…

When I was seven years old, I had an uncle with a grey beard and an eye-patch that would take me out on walks and tell long stories about his history as a sailor in the merchant marines. He had been at sea for fourteen years and visited just about every country, even the landlocked ones he would say with his signature smoker's laugh. Uncle Robert tapped his pipe on the heel of his boot as we stopped. Not that his tal…

> The problem with quality writing is that it takes time to think through and time to produce, and time is not something that is afforded journalists and writers today.

Right, and that's why longform.org was a great resource, because they curated long form content.

FWIW, one of the long form articles I've most returned to in my mind, discovered via longform.org: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/05/a-sea-s.... See also https://longform.org/archive/tags/lost-at-sea, though I can't vouch for any of those added over the past 5 or so years, and that tag is missing some related stories, like the story of the father and his autistic son swept out into the Gulf of Mexico.

Re: Longform.org is shutting down its article recommendations service

#95

Post by rchaud »

padobson wrote: post #74
marginalia_nu wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was seven years old, I had an uncle with a grey beard and an eye-patch that would take me out on walks and tell long stories about his history as a sailor in the merchant marines. He had been at sea for fourteen years and visited just about every country, even the landlocked ones he would say with his signature smoker's laugh. Uncle Robert tapped his pipe on the heel of his boot as we stopped. Not that his tal…

and time is not something that is afforded journalists and writers today. This seems intuitive, and also provably false. Joe Rogan is currently running the most famous and successful podcast in the world, and those conversations routinely go over three hours. Dan Carlin is on a lower tier, but still highly successful, and his podcasts are far more polished and produced and integrate huge amounts of research, and the…

Journalists usually don't have the luxury of 3 hours with their interview subjects.

Since time is of the essence, they also don't go off on diatribes about California divorce laws, or posit personal theories about alien life forms, before getting to their question.

Re: Longform.org is shutting down its article recommendations service

#96

Post by rchaud »

alex_suzuki wrote: post #60
marginalia_nu wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was seven years old, I had an uncle with a grey beard and an eye-patch that would take me out on walks and tell long stories about his history as a sailor in the merchant marines. He had been at sea for fourteen years and visited just about every country, even the landlocked ones he would say with his signature smoker's laugh. Uncle Robert tapped his pipe on the heel of his boot as we stopped. Not that his tal…

I almost zoned out there, reading about your uncle. Limited attention span.

I was looking for the recipe for some maritime dish that I was sure would appear at the bottom of that comment.

Re: Longform.org is shutting down its article recommendations service

#97

Post by rchaud »

jeppesen-io wrote: post #8

I feel bad, I tried it but if I'm honest I couldn't focus on long form Not a good thing

A lot of long-form writing is lazy and designed to pad out the word count/page count.

I have never finished a single Cal Newport book because of this, and they're only about 250-300 pages as it is. All the value can be found in the first 50-75 pages. It's pure fluff after that.

I'm surprised "book summarization" services like Blinkist haven't become more popular.

Re: Longform.org is shutting down its article recommendations service

#98

Post by kej »

saperyton wrote: post #63
probably_wrong wrote: post #32

I am sorry to see them go, but more for the principle than for the site itself. I gave up on the site when I realized that I was spending more time scrolling for something interesting than actually reading articles. Even now, out of their top 10 "best of 2021" I find only 3 of those even remotely interesting, and IMHO one of them is garbage (I read it when it came out). The type of articles I like the most are those…

Thinking About Things [0] is fantastic. They're also great for discovery because they link to many other sites - they've feature a lot of little-known blogs that are quite interesting. [0] https://thinking-about-things.com/

URL fix, bare domain doesn't redirect to www: https://www.thinking-about-things.com/

Re: Longform.org is shutting down its article recommendations service

#99

Post by stereoradonc »

I am tracking the best reads on Internet and have a private Telegram channel. You can access it here:

https://t.me/+pwdYcfBiV1I3Njll

Users clicking on it will need Telegram. I plan to have a private group to share/discover and amplify other best finds. Each of the links posted here is personally vetted. Long form links are encouraged. Reactions are switched on by default (you can react to the posts). Forwarding is restricted.

Re: Longform.org is shutting down its article recommendations service

#100

Post by brewdad »

twic wrote: post #49
optimalsolver wrote: post #7

Alternatives: Arts & Letters Daily : https://aldaily.com/ Aeon: https://aeon.co/ Nautilus: https://nautil.us/ Hacker News: https://news.ycombinator.com/

Lapham's Quarterly: https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/

Sadly, they appear to have stopped publishing. Last issue was Spring 2021.
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