I remember browsing Quartz back in 2014-15 and being impressed that there was finally a current affairs focused "digital media" startup that wasn't styled like the odiously click-chasing Business Insider. The website design felt fresh, with a widescreen layout as opposed to the amateurish, single-column blog-like designs of Gawker and Buzzfeed.
But things seemed to change not long after. Paywalls appeared everywhere, so while I could "see" the topics they covered, I couldn't read them. Over time I kept coming back to the website, remembering its cool design, and was disappointed to find fewer and fewer new articles.
Just took a look at the site now, and sadly it just resembles any of those dime-a-dozen "content aggregator" sites like Forbes.com.