The dangers of long stories

I discovered just yesterday that a favorite ongoing story that I've been following has been declared complete. Normally, that would be a good thing, not of course because you want to see it end, but because of the sense of achievement that the author must feel. But unfortunately, the ending that we got was actually because of lost interest, and changing circumstances which forced an obviously premature conclusion.
I get it, stuff happens. This is the second author I've followed who has felt the need to quit the hobby in the course of the last several months. As much as one hates the idea of a permanent cliffhanger, you can't really blame the author. Long stories stretched out over months are really hard to keep going. And many of these stories need to be long to properly play out. But, it still sucks. Well, if nothing else, it's that much more incentive to finish what I've started. Like I said, I hate cliffhangers.