III. Chapter Three — The Quiet Departure
Frieze · Reader Atlas · Q4 1894
The takeaway, in one sentence

Subscribers don't churn — they fade, one unopened essay at a time.

Reading depth, weeks 1–18 after sign-up
% of essay read · cohort 12 384 readers
100% 75% 50% 25% 0% Week 9 · inflection Read-through halves; opens hold w1 w4 w8 w9 w11 w14 w17
Read to the end Opened the email n = 12 384 · Christiania reading rooms, Mar–Jul 1894
Median read-through · week 12
34.7% −18.2 pts YoY

A reader who finishes the third essay still finishes the twelfth. The slide happens earlier, and quieter.

Silent quitters
61.4%
unsubscribe without ever clicking the button
Median fade
47 days
from first miss to the final unopened note
Observation · No. 09

"They did not slam the gate. They merely walked further out onto the bridge and stopped turning around."

— editorial post-mortem, Frieze masthead
Source · Frieze internal reader telemetry, weeks 01–18, Q1–Q2 1894. Methodology — open + scroll-depth events, sampled per essay.
Frieze of Life — 12 / 24 —