I don´t think that long articles don´t get nice rewards in general @richq11. In my experience the most important thing is: structure! In the end every single article is like a small marketing campaign. You have to sell it! You have to sell your idea and yourself to somebody who doesn´t have much time. The best thing about it is that you have infinite chances to try.

Supposedly the meme you mentioned made a lot of people laugh - that´s one of the strongest emotions of all! So obviously they paid you well for that. 'Effort' doesn´t have to be measured necessarily just by time. 'Effort' here is creatitivy - and the capability to understand what may 'work' and what may be downvoted.

It´s an amzing ride in any case! :)