Sabo, you got me wondering. Here on Medium, I am a reader, not a writer. There are so many buttons here, I ignore most of them, and make a few comments. If someone replies to one of my comments, I get an email and have enjoyed some good conversations.

Just about once a week, Medium emails my "audience" stats. Umm, what audience? I don't write on Medium. One week, the stats said I had 480 readers for one of my stories, up from my regular 80 to 140. Hmmm. I remembered noticing an "Also publish to my profile" button right below the comment section and pushing it. Does that account for those 480 reads? Never had an external number at all.

Does Medium make any money off commenters? Does Medium send readers stats to try and encourage them to become writer-contributors?

Without an income from their writing, most writers have to take a job, and don't have to time to write anymore. I sell my creativity for a living, so I really get that catch 22 situation. But that is my point.

Creatives can accept poverty, or stop doing creative work and take a job. In my opinion, creatives fuel the economy - without them, we'd lose so much economic fuel, our economy would collapse. But good luck trying to get paid for it - eh?

Anyways, if you have any explanations, or thoughts on readers, I would like to hear them.