Chapter 1: The Discovery of Medium's Stats Tool

Recently, I stumbled upon a feature on Medium that I hadn't noticed before. It might not be new, but it certainly caught my attention, and now I can't stop exploring it. If you also struggle with self-control, you might want to skip ahead. For those who wish to continue, here’s how to access this handy tool:

Navigate to your Story Stats page, scroll down to the 'Lifetime' section, and click the tab on the right. You'll see your stories categorized into eight distinct groups: Oldest, Latest, Most Viewed, Least Viewed, Most Read, Least Read, Highest Earning, and Lowest Earning.

At this point, you may be tempted to check out your own statistics and skip the rest of my narrative. However, if you're still with me, let’s dive into the bottom five stories from my collection of over 400 on Medium—the ones that didn’t quite resonate with readers.

Section 1.1: The Unloved Stories

What do these least-read stories have in common, aside from being brilliant yet tragically overlooked? I'm not entirely certain. The first three were all quite brief—just one-minute reads—which is rather disheartening. It seems that even a minute of reading my brilliant insights was too much for some. Excuse me while I dab my eyes. Even a two-minute piece, inspired by My Fair Lady, didn’t fare much better, nor did The Famous & Prolific Author, which took seven minutes to read. So, it doesn’t appear that length is the culprit here, at least not on Medium.

But enough of my gloom. Let’s explore the five most-read stories. This section brought a few surprises.

Section 1.2: The Most-Read Surprises

One notable surprise was the inclusion of an eczema story in the top five, while another eczema piece found itself among the least-read. I’m still pondering that one.

It was less shocking to find that two of the most-read articles, After Years In A Foreign Country and When Adults Have Temper Tantrums, were boosted pieces. However, it was quite unexpected—no offense intended—to see The Queen in the top ranks. Another revelation was My California Friend, a story that wasn’t boosted, which attracted more views and generated more income than one of the boosted articles, yet had a similar read count. This highlights the unpredictable nature of reader engagement.

If I were more data-driven, I might delve into comparisons between earnings, reads, views, and even the likelihood of unexpected political events (pardon my distraction). But as I try to process all this information, my brain feels like it's in a fog. Yours might be too.

While I find this feature intriguing, it offers little clarity on why some Medium stories thrive while others languish. My only advice is to continue creating—doing the same things in hopes of different outcomes. Ironically, this is often labeled as insanity and is also the topic of my least-read Medium article.

Chapter 2: Reactions to Psychic Medium Fails

In light of discussing stories and their varying receptions, it’s fascinating to explore how others perceive psychic mediums. For instance, take a look at this engaging video that reacts to some of the most notable psychic medium fails.

This first video showcases a humorous take on the worst psychic medium blunders.

Then, there’s this video that specifically dissects a poorly executed reading by a well-known psychic medium, offering insights on what went wrong.