Look, What Medium Algo Is Busy With Serving Millions of Readers on the Topic Pages
As an avid reader and a Friend of Medium who explores diverse subjects, I find myself disheartened and disappointed.

Yesterday, I encountered an insightful yet concerning piece written by Dr Mehmet Yildiz, someone I know personally and who invited me to Medium and continues to mentor me to become a better writer, editor, publisher, and curator. His decision to share such a serious story publicly piqued my interest. He wouldn’t write something lightly or randomly. I had no idea what NewBreak was but I learned a bit about it today and will write a short story later. You can find the details in his story.
My AHA Moment
The key point for my story is that shortly after, I encountered a noteworthy comment from the insightful reader Obinna Uruakpa, whose questions resonated with me, giving me an AHA moment, and igniting my scientific curiosity.

With over five decades dedicated to discerning patterns even at a subatomic level, exploring the nuances of Medium’s algorithm doesn’t appear as daunting
In this visual odyssey, I will paint a narrative as rich as 7000 words, proving that a picture is worth a thousand words and might just fill my daily quote quota.
This is an intriguing exploration of Medium’s subscriber journey to the perplexing pathways of the topics pages and the platform’s bustling front door.
Join me in decoding the visual poetry and pondering why our tales, like cherished paintings, yearn for more views in this dynamic Medium gallery. I screen-captured them to make this story easy to follow.
My Findings via a Short Visit to the Latest Served Articles by Medium Algorithm to Millions of Readers
It took me around 30 minutes to browse six major topics that were interesting to me. I am an avid reader and a supportive Friend of Medium who pays three times more than standard members to read the best stories the Medium algorithm serves.
So, as a follower of multiple topics as my biggest interest, I started with health, followed by 4 Million readers.
1 — Health
Here is what the algorithm is distributing to health readers of Medium.

2 — Technology
As a tech-savvy scientist, I was curious what Medium would offer me as a Friend of Medium. Here is what I got. How insightful to get these messages from the same author.

3 — Psychology
Then I visited my next favorite topic, Psychology followed by 4 Million people.

4 — Science
As a former scientist, I wondered what is cooking up in the science world, considering so many doctoral and postdoctoral scientists writing on this platform. This topic is followed by 3.9 Million people.

5 — Mental Health
I wondered what was happening in the Mental Health topic followed by 3.6M Followers. I was served with a story about CusTomer Care Helpline.

6 — Writing
Then I thought I might find some handy writing tips as I couldn’t write much lately due to no views from Medium readers. Isn’t it wonderful to find these writing tips on a grand medium topic followed by 4 million people?

7 — Curated Science Lists
Then I wondered what Medium curators would offer me for science as their curated list. This is what I found in the science topic, followed by 3.9 million people.

Apart from some good insights from John Gluck, the other four major lists are about ChatGPT. As a retired scientist, I kept wondering why I joined Medium as a friend to read about ChatGPT. This is what Medium curators curated for science readers, followed by millions of people on the topic page.
I read and curated hundreds of stories written by real scientists invited by Dr. Yildiz for ILLUMINATION publications. There is not a single list to show their curated/boosted stories. I wonder whether Medium pays these curators or if they are created by volunteers. Like me, I assume there will be many volunteers to curate science topics if Medium accepts volunteers.
I wrote about my cancer research and posted it to ILLUMINATION-Curated, hoping it would be boosted as it was an impactful story, and it only got a handful of views from my direct links as it was not distributed because millions of readers seemed to be too busy to learn about ChatGPT. Why would readers care about the work of an old scientist if they can get answers from popular ChatGPT favored by Medium curators?
For curated content, you may explore my recent 26 collections. While I’ve taken a break from writing, I remain an avid reader and curator, supporting inspiring human writers on this platform. The front yard may be cluttered, but amidst the rubbish, gems await discovery.
Until August, I was very happy as an aspiring writer on Medium, gaining many followers as Medium’s algorithm used to distribute my stories. However, writing this piece landed me in distribution jail. I wish I hadn’t written it, but someone needed to do it during that time, as I did Medium’s job, and the punitive Algo punished me by depriving me of my audience to see my content.
Thank you for reading my 7000-word worth essay. I’d love to hear about your comments. I mean, a few lucky people can see this post because the Medium algorithm will not distribute such a low-quality article that does not meet distribution/boost guidelines.
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