I think it’s the only place for writers to add other social media links, etc. I don’t know if you’ve seen, Medium is already providing 4-5 articles of the author themselves below the published article, so we don’t need to add more of our own. It’s kind and helpful to shsre another’s, and certainly people can add what they ultimately enjoy adding.

To clarify: stats are just stats. I wouldn’t say stats are hurt. What I perhaps poorly shared is:
If a writer looks at avg read time to gauge are readers reading the whole article and staying engaged, but there’s 2-3 minute of extra info at the bottom:
The writer will lose total read time from what they hoped…if they understand total read time directly impacts earnings.

Many don’t care—so that’s fine!

Recently I’ve seen many 4-5 min articles, and once I finish read the “heart of article”—it takes the audio another 2.5 minutes to finish read the links and tags.

Therefore the write up is maybe 2 min at best. Therefore if readers leave at that point—which most do, then you get paid just for that read time and your “read” number looks low as well.

It’s just one factor to look at.
You’re right—to some it’s not a big deal.
And I’m really talking about those who add a lot.

If I recall—you don’t do that.

Have a great Thursday!
Thanks for reading Jessey!!