Writing articles to a set word count such as 1000-words isn't a personal thing. It's a practical part of freelance writing. Years ago I was contracted to write some articles for one of CNET's newsletters, and they needed to be roughly 1000 words each, so I gained experience writing articles to a specified length. Many magazines also look for articles of a certain length, typically somewhere in the range of 500-5000 words. For these assignments you often get paid by the word. I received $1/word for my CNET articles.
Writing longer, more detailed articles is a very intentional choice. I know full well that most people prefer shorter, skimmable articles. But there are plenty of places to find such articles, so I didn't see a need to join the party. You can spend all day reading info crack from Digg.com and Del.icio.us, but the next day you've forgotten all of it.
Some of the most popular articles on this site are also the longest, such as the 7300-word
http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/200...rom-your-blog/. While there are many free articles and blog posts on this topic that cover similar ground, you'll be hard pressed to find one like this. Consequently, it stands out from the crowd and has become one of the most popular articles on this topic anywhere online. Even after 8 months, it still attracts new links nearly every day.
Creating longer, more detailed articles is harder than creating short ones. I have to dig deeper, to get more personal, to invest more time, and to provide more value for those who do take the time to read them. In the long run that's become a big part of my competitive advantage.
Ironically, an easy way to stand out in your field is to do what everyone else considers too hard.