I'm working on a new website. We're trying to be thoughtful about every feature we add. Asking ourselves do we really need this?

We're currently having a discussion about estimated reading times on articles, and would be interested to hear what everyone has to say?

Some points we're thinking about:

• Where does the estimated reading time come from?

• If it takes 20 minutes for someone to read an article that we've labelled 5 minute read how does that make that person feel?

• Does it put off fast readers?

• Should we consider alternatives like: "short read", "long read", "article", "essay", "a couple of paragraphs".

• Do interactive elements, infographics, embedded videos or audio make the whole thing redundant?

• Is there any evidence to support estimated reading times?

What are your thoughts?