Medium is Actively Acting Against the Best Interests and Desires of Writers
A Survey of Interest in a Damning Story
I have a long story to tell but I want to know if Medium writers care enough about their loss revenue and distribution due to the direct actions of Medium’s product, brand and legal teams. While other platforms work hard and do whatever they can to maximize both the revenue and distribution of content on their platform and around the internet, Medium’s team has been in correspondence with me and made it clear that they are deliberately acting against the best interests of writers in a desperate play for the maximization of their “brand”.
I have receipts and would be willing to share, as I alerted the team earlier this year, but only if enough of the affected parties care. I will eventually share this information regardless, but what’s in question is timing.
To be clear, I have a real, unique stake in the success of Medium and hope they change their mind and actually return to their roots of trying to maximize the success of writers. I know many of the Medium staff follow me and occasionally engage with my stories, so I hope they see this and preemptively revert their bad actions.
You can “clap” and/or leave a comment below if you’re interested and able (even this function is fragmented because the team is more focussed on their brand than the success of writers and readers. We can’t even trust their referral statistics …).
Anyway, I hope you’re having a great weekend.
Cheers!
Update for clarity (11/15/20 2:12pm EST): This is not directly in respect to the partner program. It’s in respect to the new culture of Medium and how they act materially against the clear desires of writers around the internet. Of course, this indirectly impacts how much writers earn here on Medium and directly against other potential revenue and distribution streams.
There’s a great deal of nuance here, so what you wouldn’t credibly take away from this article is that Medium is directly pulling strings to lower how much you earn in their Partner Program. Nonetheless, the indirect impact is nothing to scoff at.
Surely, the end result of their actions will be that you earn less than you would over your career as a writer, and you have less control over your audience and content in exchange. This is bad and there’s no two ways about it. Update (7/31/21 5:32pm EST): The story: https://readmedium.com/open-letter-writers-medium-is-your-abusive-lover-958c68418f30
