I'm probably being unnecessarily reactionary about the recurring credit-card charge. I was a subscriber from 1999-2015. At the start, you paid by sending them a check. For a long time, you could add three years to your subscription at a low cost by paying in advance. I forget when I sent them my last check, but it can't have been later than 2010 or 2011. The accumulated subscription years kept me in The Atlantic for quite a while after that. I know the recurring charge is standard practice now, but it wasn't always so, and I still think it's kind of underhanded. But that may just be me not keeping up with the times.

I got a lot of value from the content, and I may subscribe again someday, but they're going to have to win me back.