What’s Wrong with this Picture?

This one’s for you, Tony Stubblebine

Hi there, our shiny new CEO. Bet you’re wondering if telling all of us eager beavers that you were listening was the best way to get started in your new capacity as Benevolent Dictator and Head Cheerleader.

Well, here we are. You’re listening and it appears that We The Writers have plenty to say.

I’ll keep it simple: note how the stories above have fewer reads than fans? This is not an anomaly. People read a lot faster than the algorithm gives them credit for and thus We The Writers get less credit, aka, do-re-mi, aka, money.

Please also note that the second story in the above screenshot is not a sweet and easy collection of pretty photos (those really get clobbered by the read-time fairies). It’s an essay, an argument, a rant and it only has the one photo so the fact that 11 people clapped while the read-time fairies are telling us that only 9 people read is a bunch of hooey. Forgive the lapse into technical language.

Here’s a gentle suggestion from someone who has been writing engaging content that has consistently been bringing readers to your site for over three years — got a pen? good — change the way reads are registered or develop a new way to pay We The Writers who are the engine of this platform’s success (such as it…