Another Medium Algorithmic Mystery

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Abstract

stretch. So I don’t get thousands of views. But yesterday, a story from a month back began zipping for absolutely no reason I can explain. But there was something odd in the “returns.” <b>Even though the read-through stats were almost 100%, the reading minutes were almost non-existent.</b></p><p id="1951">This morning I rose to check the stats again and <b>here’s what I found for today: 153 views, a 96% read-through, and zero reading minutes!</b> As an old friend/drummer I roomed with on the road used to say: “that don’t make no kind of arithmetic.”</p><p id="45d1">Last night, I looked at the story and to my dismay, came to realize there were no embeds at the end. Apparently, I’d written it before discovering the benefit of embedding other articles in my stories. So I put a couple of embeds at the end and guess what! One of them has 24 reading minutes this morning! So I’m lost with all of this.</p><

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p id="fbe6">It doesn’t really matter all that much as what mysteriously started seems to have just as mysteriously stopped. (The story appears to have reached the end of its viral cycle.) But still, I don’t get it. Maybe somebody else here might.</p><p id="3731"><b>Here’s the story if you’re curious:</b></p><div id="ffe4" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/medium-not-really-a-blogging-platform-46c6c28e3805"> <div> <div> <h2>Medium: Not Really a Blogging Platform</h2> <div><h3>Am I missing something here?</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*4tpgwlXCXIyKz7VjZJIaiQ.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

Two plus two no longer equals four!

Don’t get me wrong. I love Medium and all its mysterious algorithms. But sometimes, I’m befuddled by the platform’s secret sauce. Just for example, I earned money on a story that had zero views for the day a few weeks back. On another occasion, I earned no money on a story that had been viewed for several reading minutes. And just today, I have a new inexplicable bundle of data.

I’m not a Medium star by any stretch. So I don’t get thousands of views. But yesterday, a story from a month back began zipping for absolutely no reason I can explain. But there was something odd in the “returns.” Even though the read-through stats were almost 100%, the reading minutes were almost non-existent.

This morning I rose to check the stats again and here’s what I found for today: 153 views, a 96% read-through, and zero reading minutes! As an old friend/drummer I roomed with on the road used to say: “that don’t make no kind of arithmetic.”

Last night, I looked at the story and to my dismay, came to realize there were no embeds at the end. Apparently, I’d written it before discovering the benefit of embedding other articles in my stories. So I put a couple of embeds at the end and guess what! One of them has 24 reading minutes this morning! So I’m lost with all of this.

It doesn’t really matter all that much as what mysteriously started seems to have just as mysteriously stopped. (The story appears to have reached the end of its viral cycle.) But still, I don’t get it. Maybe somebody else here might.

Here’s the story if you’re curious: