For me, writing is about ideas. If I put out a listicle, I know the ideas have to be good, because if they are good and people connect with them — then the article is good.

However…

If I understand you correctly, I suppose the main point might be akin to ‘selling out’ and being intellectually lazy while extracting maximum value.

As a consistent process there’s not a lot of purpose in that and it perverts the reward system away from more creative content. It makes the product a little more shallow, and creating in general ought to be about depth and originality.

Either way, great article! It was thought provoking for me.