ILLUMINATION Is A Gold Mine on Medium
Dear Writer From New York City
There are millions of inspiring writers from other cities too
I couldn’t hold shedding a drop of tears when I read this message from a writer a few weeks ago.
“Dear Sir, I hope this message finds you well. A few words from my heart to show my appreciation for easing my pain in these difficult times. When my parents suffer from debilitating illnesses, as a young unemployed, I struggled to find an avenue to steam my painful energy as a sole caretaker. I am from a third world country with limited Internet access. Finding Medium and your illuminating publication opened a new window to the world. I am grateful to you for opening this god-sent window for me. And your editors reviewed my stories with my poor English, beautified them, and kept my authentic voice. Thank you for easing my pain. My gratitude to your supportive team”
Why I write this piece
This is a response to a writer who keeps attacking writers of my publication ILLUMINATION on Medium, calling their work “crap” publicly for unknown motives. I am keeping hidden the identity of the person.
Dear Writer From New York City
I hope you find an opportunity to read this open letter coming from my heart.
I have the decency not to name and criticize you but show why ILLUMINATION gives voice to every writer who deserves to be heard.
My publication has core values of diversity, equality, and inclusion.
Medium is not the New York Times.
The Medium CEO pointed it out clearly and his message resonated with thousands of writers and readers manifested as one of the largest self-publishing content platforms serving globally.
ILLUMINATION is not just another publication among 17,240, as pointed out by The Garrulous Glaswegian in this YouTube video.
ILLUMINATION is not Medium owned and not a compensated partnered publication but is a publication supported by only volunteers who invest their precious time to help those who want to share their stories with the broader world.
ILLUMINATION team strives for giving a voice to those who were rejected by elite and paid publications that only support accomplished writers. My publications aim to empower those whose great ideas are rejected, censored, and undermined due to not meeting style guidelines and the subjective taste of elite publication owners and editors.
ILLUMINATION is a collaborative platform bringing thousands of writers and readers to share, engage meaningfully, and learn from each other while growing together.
Do you know that more than one-third of Medium writers contribute to ILLUMINATION? There is a reason for it.
Did you know that ILLUMINATION changed some writers’ life?
And did you know it gives purpose and voice to writers?
I created ILLUMINATION with the vision of giving every ethical writer a chance to publish their stories. I use the term ethical because we only exclude plagiarists and those who cause harm to society, such as purveyors of hate speech, defamation, and other toxic behavior.
In addition, I transformed this publication into a group of integrated publications to serve these writers better by giving them the opportunity to grow. Now, ILLUMINATION as an Integrated Publication has a curated collection for top writers called ILLUMINATION-Curated, and a digital library to empower accomplished and award-winning published authors. In addition, a specialized publication called SYNERGY to address concerns of writers, and another publication called Technology Hits to amplify technology stories for society.
Why do so many people write on Medium and for ILLUMINATION?
Because Medium is an open and safe place where writers of all abilities and beliefs can seek to grow as writers and strive for self-improvement and spiritual growth. When I use the term spiritual, I use it in a manner that transcends the duality of theism versus atheism. One can act entirely spiritually with or without a belief in “a creator,” however one understands that term. Spirituality only requires empathy, compassion, and love.
Thus, ILLUMINATION does not tolerate gaslighting of any degree. Not publishing the message of a writer because their style or technical aspects of their writing do not meet some subjective editorial standard falls within the spectrum of the societal ill of gaslighting. You may check this beautifully articulated story by Danielle Loewen leveraged with excellent points from great ideas of Jessica Wildfire’s “How to Scorch a Gaslighter”.
If you want to understand the debilitating pain of writers, I recommend you reading this piece from Markus Scorelius called “Decades of Gaslighting and Abuse Have Me Considering Death as an Option to Make it Stop”.
ILLUMINATION includes all types of writers, from the most accomplished and award-winning writers with a scholarly background and industry influencers to aspiring writers and many in between, including many whose native language is not English yet have the courage to seek to learn “on the job.”
Among the top 50 most followed publications on Medium with over 93,600 Medium member followers and 9,400 contributing writers, ILLUMINATION hosts 150,000 plus stories covering 100 plus topics.
Our aim is not to serve only the best. Anyone can do this. But we choose the difficult path to ease the pain of many. While we have hundreds of curated and well-crafted stories, we differentiate ourselves by giving everyone a chance to grow. We know that no one was born a writer.
Nit-picking and pointing to a few typos and authentic writing accents and labeling them “crap” is NOT acceptable. It is heartbreaking for aspiring writers. My editors are not permitted to do so and I will hold any commenter accountable for such reprehensible behavior.
Imagine being in their place, just writing because they love it and trying to find their footing in a foreign land and then being criticized for not having the privilege to have all the tools that you do.
Criticizing ILLUMINATION for publishing non-native speakers of English and calling them “crap” publicly does not make sense and does not serve society.
Do you know that some of these writers can speak multiple languages? Do they make an effort to learn the English language and connect with English-speaking people globally? In how many languages can you write stories?
Imagine you enjoy the French language, make an effort to learn the language for many years, then one day you want to write a story in French, but an elite from Paris calls your story “crap” publicly. How would you feel about it? I believe your soul would be crushed as many people you called “crap” got disappointed and asked therapeutic advice from our editors to be able to attempt writing again.
Some writers from the less advantaged part of the world with advanced degrees like PhD contribute to the body of knowledge and share their stories on Medium without being paid a cent. For example, such writers from India are not compensated due to the unavailability of Stripe in their country. Despite their constraints, they make an effort to contribute and engage with other writers.
Despite your harsh criticism, we value these writers and encourage them to continue. Some of those writers you criticized several months ago have created outstanding stories which Medium curated and chose them for further distribution. They bring many followers to our publication which benefits many more aspiring writers.
After we asked you kindly to stop accusations, attacks, and allegations, you still keep doing it. As the owner of this publication, you blocked me, but you keep writing about me and creating allegations. That is fine; I can handle criticism. In fact, I embrace negative criticism as a thick-skinned silver head. But aspiring writers need encouragement and motivation to grow.
As these writers contribute to my publications and illuminate thousands of people, I am taking personal responsibility to protect them from harmful behavior on this platform.
If you don’t enjoy their work, why do you read them?
There are millions of stories and thousands of other publications on Medium. Why are you so obsessed with ILLUMINATION?
Sorry ILLUMINATION does not publish your stories anymore, not because you are a lousy writer, but because your dark behavior is demoralizing.
I have tolerated your behavior so far and remained patient, hoping you will stop attacking us after blocking me; however, you keep criticizing our writers and disturbing them. I cannot read your content; however, they sent me screen captures of your inappropriate words revealed publicly, saying, “ILLUMINATION publish crap.”
I hope my important message can shine some light on your heart to help you see what you call “crap” are raw emotions of many suffering people from real life challenges.
I want to support your writing career and respect your content.
If you open your heart to others, we will be proud to start publishing your content again. If you unblock me, I am happy to create visibility to your publication too. I choose not to criticize any writer or a publication on Medium. I respect all and want them to shine.
I wish you all the best.
Chief Editor of ILLUMINATION Integrated Publications
About the Author
I am a technologist, postdoctoral researcher, published author, editor, and digital marketing strategist with four decades of industry experience.
I write articles for Medium, NewsBreak, and Vocal Media. On Medium, I established ILLUMINATION, ILLUMINATION-Curated, ILLUMINATION’ S MIRROR, ILLUMINATION Book Chapters, Technology Hits, SYNERGY, and Readers Hope publications supporting 11,600+ writers on Medium.
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