"They have some fancy schmancy way of determining whether a reader made it to the bottom of the page and I’m not entirely sure what that is."

Caroll, you have to imagine Medium and Whack-o-mole getting together and having a child. One that keeps moving and reappearing where you don't expect it and disappearing altogether eventually. That is the bottom of the page.

The further down it gets - like right into the next article - the less is technically read, the fewer pennies are disbursed, the happier all the peeps at Medium are - more pennies for end-of-year bonuses.

Now as far as "1" clap - I think maybe 2 claps would be better. One clap could mean liked it, but am in a hurry. It could also mean, my mouse battery died. Or my click finger seized up.

But 2 claps is intentional. It's one then another then stop. 2 means meh. Means mayo on a hot dog, beer on your cereal. They'll get it.

Cool piece.