Medium, Please Give Me Back My Read Time

And everyone else who is suddenly clocking zero minutes

Photo by Scott Rodgerson on Unsplash

Dear Medium,

Please don’t get me wrong. I am not here simply to complain like a self-righteous bitch.

The fact is that I am grateful — immensely so — for the opportunities that this platform has given me as a writer. I really am.

I know that there has been some great work going on behind the scenes of late that is bringing about a better overall experience for writers and readers alike, of which many of us are both.

I am grateful for the incredible content I get to read, for the community that exists here, and for the chance to earn something from the effort I put in.

But here’s where I have a small issue right now.

You see, don’t our pennies earned depend upon the amount of time members spend reading our stories, essays, and articles?

Yet, since yesterday, the “member read time” has come to a standstill.

I noticed yesterday that a story of mine that had taken off and had been garnering lots of views and hours of read time the previous day only had 16 minutes’ of read time registered yesterday. Of course, this could have simply been an algorithm…