For a full list of today's Salon Media stories, go to the Media home page. And if a Web site can calculate its most-recommended articles on the basis of a fairly crude reader poll, it could someday post a more sophisticated rating based on, say, the number of unique hits multiplied by minutes spent per page.
Passionate subjects invite passionate response.
None of this confirms anything we don't already know. So let me offer another reason, even more selfish and self-serving. Despite journalism's propensity to wring its hands over studies and polls, one of the most solemn duties of writers and editors is to disregard your opinion. Publications need to be aware of their readers, but good writing is at heart antidemocratic. An Earth populated by democratic ballot would be full of golden retrievers.