Incorrect Medium Stats

Undercounted and underpaid

Something disturbing has been happening with the recording of my Medium Stats during the last two weeks. Take my latest story below, which is a 6-minute read that I published earlier today.

This story has thus far had 10 views (5 internal views), 3 reads, 4 fans, and 3 comments. Total member reading time?

22 SECONDS!

Last time I checked 6 minutes times 3 reads is 18 minutes, not 22 seconds.

And I am supposed to be getting paid for my member reading time. I have submitted a query to the Medium help desk, but the last time I submitted I never heard back! And there is no one I can speak with on the phone. So, naturally, I am worried. I enjoy writing, but I also write to earn money. Because we live in this strange world where you cannot eat or pay your rent without an income.

I am also a paying Medium member and do not hold back my $5 dollars per month. Do I not deserve fair, honest, and transparent treatment?

I am already going against the grain as I am not a self-help or money-making guru but instead write poetry and satire. So I do not earn a lot of money. So all the more reason I rely on Medium to hold its end of the bargain and record my stats fairly and pay me my due.

Here is the second disturbing trend I have been increasingly faced with over the last 2 weeks. Plummeting read ratios as shown below:

With Splintered Ties, a 2-minute poem, how do you get 24 views, 1 read, and 8 fans? Or with Falling For Promised Fruit, another 2-minute poem that was picked as an Editor’s Choice by Move Me Poetry and garnered plenty of engagement and enthusiastic feedback, how do you get 51 views, 10 reads, and 17 fans (with 12 comments)?

Poets are poor. We don’t make a lot of money. Why kick a poet while they’re down? Why shave the already measly earnings off of what we already make to scrape by?

I’ve noticed as a user when reading all of your work I am often kicked off and the Medium app mistakes me for a nonmember. Could this be skewing the stats? Could my reads of your work be being counted as “external views,” views that Medium can then discard and not pay you for? Is this what explains my 22 seconds reading time on my own 6-minute piece mentioned above? Please tell me I’m not the only one having this issue. Check your stats, hit ‘details,’ and break it down. What are others doing about this problem?

My Epistle To Rupert Murdoch has 270 views but over 90% of them are deemed “external views” and so I have made 26 pennies on it. Is this a case of members being counted as nonmembers due to Medium’s mobile app IT issue as well? There is no way I will know for sure. 85% of the external views are marked “Android device (not Medium app)”.

Are we supposed to take this lying down? Do we just shut our mouths and be grateful for our pocket change? Or should we respect ourselves and demand our fair share? Assuming they are telling the truth about how much they make on Medium, why should the self-help gurus and the success gurus always get the lion’s share of money? As a platform of writers and poets, should we be demanding more from Medium?

Are other Medium writers having this experience of grossly undercounted stats and horrible view/read ratios that clearly don’t add up? I’d love to hear your comments below. I’d also love to hear your experience with Medium Help Desk. Do you get resolution when there are clear mistakes on Medium’s end?

I’d particularly be interested to hear from poets and writers. Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她), JD Greyson, augmented man, David Rudder, Thomas Plummer, Rachel K. Gause, Jesse M Hawthorne , Ann Christine Tabaka , Marcus aka Gregory Maidman , Dr Mehmet Yildiz , Ira Robinson , Wellness Xplora , Alvin Ang , Dr Michael Heng , Patrick OConnell , Brooklyn Muse, Winston , The Writing Cooperative , and anyone else with with experience and insight into Medium. Don’t feel obliged to respond, as I know you all have busy lives and I am just a drop in the bucket of a million Medium writers, but I will be grateful for anyone who does.

I realize I’m still a brand new baby on Medium, green behind the ears, and only a month old, but these are basic, fundamental issues that need to be answered if I am to go forward with faith and trust in Medium. Because, if the foundation is rotten, how can I build anything sustainable?

I will update this post if and when I hear back from Medium Help Desk.

Thank you for reading, and please comment.

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Just an update on this post: Medium Help Desk has responded to my request for an explanation of the above. They have given me a partial explanation, choosing to ignore certain parts of my query.

Let me explain: They have informed me that even internal views are not necessarily members and so will not count towards paid reads. This is a valid point and very instructive, and I appreciate Medium for providing this information.

What Medium did not answer is the issue about constantly getting kicked off the mobile app in a way that Medium mistakes me (a paying Medium member) as a non-member when I am reading all of your work. The fact that this keeps happening must mean I am constantly counting as nonmember claps on your pieces, and hence leaving you all unpaid. And, of course, this will be happening to my pieces as well. I have re-sent my question back to them and will keep you updated as to any response I get.

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Another update: Arthur from Medium has resolved my issue, which you can now read below. Have a nice day, and thanks for reading.

© Carlo Zeno 2022

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