I ask you to question why those 'avid readers' are looking for a shortcut to increase their volume rather than a shortcut to increase their comprehension. Looking at this users are comments, his desire is simply to increase the tally rather than any genuine interest in reading.

False dichotomy that reading more does not mean understanding more, that's why you ironically don't understand. Why would I read more just to keep up some artificial count if it doesn't heed my knowledge?