Dear Reader, Part III. My River Takes a Sharp Bend.

Yeah, it took too long but by god I did it. Here’s what’s happening.

Spring is right around the corner, which lately has been announced by the sudden appearance of helluva lotta buds in my yard. Robins are already returning to last year’s digs under my deck, three different species of birds have discovered the twelve feedings stations on my overloaded Japanese maple, and,

I am celebrating four years on Medium by slowly leaving.

When I stumbled onto this place four years ago this month, I was in heaven. Thought I’d be here forever. Was passionate about Medium and what it meant for writers and readers. A place to grow. I did grow, a great deal, for which I am eternally grateful.

Made friends, played by the rules, worked hard, built a community. Did what we were asked to do over and over. Worked, too. By my third year, I was up to four figures, not without massive investment. Almost a living wage.

I’m reiterating this for Dear Reader who hasn’t seen the previous notices I’ve done on this process, so kindly bear with me.

Then, well. Now with many, many times the readers, and regular breathless announcements from Medium about ALL MY NEW FOLLOWERS, like many top writers and those trying hard to make a dime, the immense time I have dedicated here barely pays off in pennies per story if that. And as others have indicated, even those with lots of eyeballs can’t score enough for a Big Mac and fries.

Bet lots of you can relate.

Too many of us are begging for coffee like people who live in tents in downtown Eugene. That’s not a good look for Medium, or us. This is why people spend so much time scraping articles about making money on Medium. The snakes eat its tail while too many writers who really did come here to write are being lost in all the money-grubbing.

I am not in the business of selling Medium memberships. I am here to write and to earn based on writing. That’s no longer the model, and no amount of copywriting on the part of Medium changes those facts for those of us who refuse to be Medium’s underpaid sales force.

I’ve said my share about this. Suffice it to say that where the platform is today is not what I signed up for. That’s true for lots of folks, and yes. The exodus of top writers isn’t a rumor. It’s real. Even those with tens of thousands of followers have watched their income plummet for reasons largely unfathomable to us, except that our readers keep telling us they can’t find our articles and really don’t like the onslaught of gunk.

Not all top writers have left, but a bunch of us did or are in process, starting with last year.

So if you don’t mind, then, this:

Not long ago I saw a Medium article by a self-professed professional writer (look, we can call ourselves any damned thing we want, that doesn’t mean it’s true) wherein she stated, baldly, that noobs can make $500 a month on Medium.

Perhaps she didn’t get the memo, but right now helluva lotta folks are struggling right now to scrape up one hundred followers (much less a hundred a month), being forced to do that via any possible method, in order to not get kicked off.

Another reminder that Medium can and will arbitrarily change any and all rules in its favor, as is their right, which is why I am exercising my right to largely depart.

I’ve already seen and been asked to participate in multiple SAVE THIS WRITER outreaches, as well as getting privately begged by folks who want my help in getting said followers and endless follow-for-follow schemes.

NO, NO, and NO.

In this new iteration of Medium I have no clue how to earn enough followers in a short time, for the entire community is doing it all at once.

As one commenter just this moment penned on a piece of mine:

Logging on only to see garbage pieces makes it miserable to be a reader here, let alone to be a writer hoping to be in the company of other competent writers. Like you, I’m wondering if I can keep hanging in if I only bother to write a piece or two a month? But even that seems ridiculous given the sludge.- ADH

I would also be hard-pressed to justify inviting new people to a system that is now riddled with trolls and the kinds of comments which, in my first year here, were so rare that you almost forgot trolls existed.

That’s why it was an oasis.

Then the unending technical glitches, the lousy phone app, the constant error messages, the tinkering with design rather than substantive improvements in function, all of which others have written about, and nobody appears to care.

Experienced folks could have told Medium this would happen. May have.

This is what happens when very bright but inexperienced people run companies without folks who have been around long enough to provide perspective. To that, please see this:

I do agree that way too many folks are on Medium who likely don’t belong on a writer’s site, but that is what happens when you financially incentivize folks to drag along any dreg off the street with fifty bucks to throw into the pot. Anybody DID show up. To that:

Not everyone can write. Many shouldn’t. MOST shouldn’t.

Not because they don’t have a story to tell but because they won’t pay Roz Warren or another competent editor to bloody well teach them how to write. It’s an art form. I’m tired of seeing it butchered. And as for manners?

Lotta folks came aboard who don’t give a rat’s patootie about the requirements for polite discourse, which is one of the primary reasons I am leaving like a lizard off a hot rock (a nod to my Aussie friends, thank ya mates).

People keep asking me to stay, especially those who just discovered my writing. While that is heartbreaking, and I deeply appreciate it, Medium has repeatedly broken my heart and my bank account enough times so that I now feel like I’m in an abusive relationship by staying.

In fact, it’s exactly like that. This is why folks are moving on to other sites and many of us are building our own. Would you ask your best friend to stay in an abusive marriage just because it was beneficial to you?

If yes, you are no friend. It’s not my job to stay here and make Medium better.

It’s Medium’s job to make this a place where top writers WANT to stay.

That said, it’s not Medium’s job to be what I need it to be. So just like a marriage that has gone sour, you say thanks for what was exchanged and move on. With any luck, we can stay friends, and I can pop by with a pastry (in this case, an article) regularly enough to stay present.

Those readers who only recently found my writing will not only have a body of work of some two thousand articles and ten thousand comments, which is one hell of a lot of production in four years but probably still find a few articles a month going forward.

A finger in the proverbial pie, as it were, until Medium makes things so untenable the long-standing tenants leave. They sure seem to be trying hard to do just that. That’s a tried and true way to suck the lifeblood out of a company, but at the expense of the very folks that others joined to read.

I went live yesterday, the tiers are up and a bunch of folks shifted over. First, that’s very moving. Second, that’s a huge responsibility. Third, I’ve got really positive work to do free of the pond scum, the trollers and haters. I am deeply sorry Medium allowed that to happen to the oasis.

A good many folks joined Medium to follow me, and I am tired of hearing them tell me they find my articles at the ass-end of their feed. Like other determinedly good writers and many far better than I, I bloody well earned those eyeballs, and Medium profited from my production. Their production. Conversely, I am tired of not being able to find the writers I follow for the same reason. I no longer care why.

Reader Warren Nelson wrote me the other day what fun it was to be able to engage in a private discussion on that website without having troller eyeballs looking for fresh meat.

Me, too. So, for people new to my writing, here’s what I have always offered here and what I am taking with me:

1. I am very good at scraping the Internet for material that allows me not only to curate valuable information, but my background also allows me to comment, cobble together that material in brand new ways to make it even more impactful. Rather than be handed a laundry list of curated articles that take too long to read, I cherry-pick a few and highlight excellent quotes. Saves time delivers more impact and value for less reading time.
2. I am constantly looking for resources, books, links, movies, videos, and articles which add value. People whose knowledge is greater. I assume that my role is better as a coordinator, collector, and curator, not the be-all expert. Besides, the only expertise I seem to have is collecting concussions.
3. Sometimes reluctantly, I take on new things that scare the hell out of me. Like leaping to my own platform. Trying new tech (GAH). Experimenting and being willing to totally suck at something. That’s where my comedy material lies.
4. I grow publicly, take full responsibility, and do my damnedest to walk my talk. And I do walk my talk. I call myself a Horizon Huntress. For those unfamiliar with my work, I am willing to head where others typically don’t and do what others won’t do. To that, then:

and this:

and this:

Oh, and I made a joke to the folks who had already signed up that if I didn’t respond in a timely manner, one reason might be because I had both hands bitten off by a tiger. To that, this:

No, she isn’t drugged. Neither am I, albeit some would accuse me of being addled to even go into this compound in the first place.

They have a point. But they aren’t me.

I appreciate respect, integrity, regard, and humor. I do my level best to model it. And when I do face plants, by god I own my shit. When necessary, apologize and do so publicly.

I value courage, vulnerability, and grace.

When I see these in reader comments and stories, I lift those comments with permission and put articles around them. That has endeared me to Dear Reader. Others’ stories are often more compelling than mine. Other peoples’ stories move me. And maybe sometimes, mine moves someone else.

So this is where we part. The river Medium is on is no longer my primary river. That doesn’t make them evil; it means they are doing what most American corporations, most especially those in Silicon Valley, do: suck people dry and spit their bones on the floor before bringing in the next crop of hopefuls.

It’s the Amazon model.

If it serves you to stay, I bid you good fortune. For my part, sense of humor and the ability to make my mortgage payment, I am moving on. My river heads to the hinterlands, whereto I’ve no clue, but I am very used to that as an adventure traveler.

I’m off to hunt for new horizons. It’s what I do best. And yes, I’ll still share stories from the wild, just nowhere near as often.

Dear Reader: if you like this story, feel free to peruse any of the nearly 2000 published so far on Medium. However, fair warning: I am moving my best material to WalkaboutSaga dot com. If that works for you, see what I’m doing and sign up. If not, I wish you well and thank you for reading my stuff.