Firstly, thank you for this, Tony. I can't think of another content platform where the CEO gets involved to this degree or offers this kind of feedback. It is much appreciated.

This is the last thing I'll say on this for now, because I know you've got countless feedback to sift through and consider.

The last few days have been fascinating. To me, it's clear that stories need to be boosted to stand a chance of earning sufficiently. Tech reviews are, clearly (unless changes are made) not for this platform. That saddens me - they used to be.

What appears to work, as I suspected, is more emotive stuff with clickbait headlines - something the pre-boost curation team once told me I should steer clear of. Avoid big knowledge gaps in your titles, they'd say; yet we appear to be heading in that direction if you want to do well on here.

Writing for a curation team bothers me, Tony. As many others have said, boosting is so subjective. The thought that the key to my earning potential as a writer lies with someone clicking a check box makes Medium feel like a game of cat and mouse. It's unnerving, uncomfortable, and I don't have that feeling on any other platform. YouTube, for instance, delivers inconsistent views, but they are predictable because I know what type of content it likes to put in front of my core audience. The machines do so consistently; they don't have a bad day.

What bothers me the most is that, over the last few days, my old audience has magically reappeared in the comments. This suggests to me that stories must be boosted to reach regular readers. That doesn't feel right at all if you put yourself in the seat of the reader. Why should their favourite authors only appear in their feed if someone checks a box to 'release' the story?

I can't help but think this is all so convoluted, Tony. Everything you're doing is well-meaning and I totally get why you're doing it. But what Medium needs is a brilliant algorithm like we see on platforms like YouTube. It results in a fair distribution system which puts the right content in front of the right people at the right time. I would dearly love to see Medium operate on that model.

I know you want to raise the quality of content on here but the irony is that the boost program will be 'gamed' just as much as any algorithm - perhaps more so - because it is so clearly the main driver for views and revenue. Your suggestion to me that I should get a feel for the boost practically confirms that and makes me feel constrained as a writer. Once again, I never used to feel that way on Medium - it always felt like I was rewarded for my best work.

For now, I'll experiment, as you suggest, but I do hope you continue to listen to people in my position, because this has been a very trying period for a great many very good writers on here.