There are already lots of bars. Publications are the best way that we handle niche interests. And certainly we judge differently per topic.

I'd say it's less about precision and more about rebalancing. Without a doubt, the rebalancing we've led has been very successful. It's obvious just looking at what stories succeed and it's obvious in the stats.

The strongest statistical signals we have are bounce rates and conversion rates. Boosted stories convert 30% better and bounce half as often.

Whenever we move traffic or money toward one article, it's coming from another. There are new winners which also means there are new losers. That's why there is so much author chatter. And I don't like to step in and say, "Hey, somebody better got that traffic and money" because it's only true in aggregate. It might not be true for that individual author.

Our system makes mistakes on both sides. But our readers, who pay our bills, were very clear that we needed to make a change. And our data backs up that the changes have been positive for those readers.