I like this simple post by Joseph Carducci, who I think wrote in a way that was an example of what he was trying to say. He talks briefly about why he thinks so many newspaper readers have stopped reading print.
Basically what he says is writers try to impress with filler that causes a reader to have to make a decision on whether they want to continue on reading or not. The majority obviously have chosen not to do it anymore for newspapers.
His simple solution is writers need to learn to get to a point much quicker.
Online writing is very similar. While there are always exceptions to the rule, it's a good practice to stick with precise and quick posts or articles. If someone wants to pursue things deeper, there are always ways to list related articles for them to go more indepth on.
The one thing I would add is there are times to offer more lengthy articles, as they do attract those that want to dig deeper in one reading. You could call them "foundational" articles, something people may come back to again and again. I think we all have those types we do that with.
It seems it's works good to have a majority of precise posts or articles that get to the point quickly, and then have some of the longer, detailed articles sprinkled in with them.
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