Today it's difficult to get to the end (or for that matter even to the middle) of a post on an established web site and not encounter an invitation to click into "related posts", or to "sponsored links" or to a number of similar attempts to keep readers either on the site or to get them to other sites that their landing there may generate some monetary return. Lately we've also met continuously scrolling URLs that keep us on site by making clicking into an additional article unnecessary - it's already right there in front of us. I suppose that links of this sort, or at least clicking on links of this sort, is somewhat similar to old-school web surfing, though it's dubious that we're being offered these links in order to enhance our web surfing experience. The reason is considerably simpler. Money. We may be choosing to go with the stream, but we're also clearly being helped, perhaps nudged, into making that choice.

And yes, this is precisely what Alexis Madrigal refers to as noted later in this column.