AFF has turned into a popularity battle, there's no doubt about it. Jason has done everything in his power to help us and to put a stop to all of the complaining but to no avail. We all want more. We all crave more. We are never satisfied with what we have. There may be a way to end all of the madness but, what that is, I honestly don't know. However, there are something things that could possibly be done that may minimize or demolish the amount of damage that has been done or will be done.

First, take down the monster from its core. That is, remove the featured story idea. THAT is what people are craving. THAT is what is making everyone crazy and annoyed. If you get rid of that, there will be nothing else for them to thirst for. They will wither away and die (metaphorically speaking). On a side note, keep the random featured story. It's not doing any harm.

Second, remove the Popular Authors page. I admit, I look at that list every now and then to see where I'm located and where others are located. In all honesty, it shouldn't matter, but it does. It's just a list of usernames but it has a powerful impact. The fact that we as human beings are ranked by numbers makes us want to be number one. To some, it doesn't even matter how they get there. They can cheat the system, they can lie, they can even beg to subscribers or upvotes but, no matter what, they won't stop.

Finally, if we get REALLY desperate, we could just remove the Popular section in its entirety (the Popular section includes 'Trending Today', 'Popular Today', 'Featured', 'Views', 'Subscriptions', 'Commented', 'Recommended', and 'Authors') but it will probably be useless. AFF is like a hydra. You cut off one of its heads, three grow back. If you get rid of one way to be popular, they'll find another way to turn it into a popularity battle but at least you tried.

Now I know that maybe five people are going to read this but at least that's better than no one reading this post. This needed to be said and I don't regret saying it.