WTF: I Was Cloned on Medium, and I’m Intensely Concerned as a Friend of Medium
The cloning of profiles, mimicking an old man, an infamous writer, editor, caring curator, and avid reader, raises serious concerns about the platform’s safety and security.
Why Being Cloned Impacts My Mental Health and Urgent Call to Action for Medium to Stop Spam and Scam Accounts Undermining the Authenticity of the Platform
Upon learning from my friends that there were concerns about a potential hack on my account earlier today, I was deeply alarmed, drawing parallels with the cautionary tales shared by my adult children, now professionals, who have experienced the pitfalls of the unpredictable internet landscape.
To mitigate risks, I’ve been meticulous about safeguarding against hackers by refraining from using my full identity and detailed photographs on platforms like Medium and social media. The advice from my children to exercise vigilance online has proven invaluable, and their cautionary words have taken on a new resonance in light of recent events.
Upon consulting with my son, a cardiologist, and my daughter, an attorney, their shared perspective was a cause for concern regarding the safety of this platform. Their professional insights have led me to apprehensions about its suitability for my retirement years.
Despite my genuine appreciation for the platform’s vibrancy and the numerous connections with wonderful friends, I find myself entangled in a dilemma. Balancing the appeal of this community with the security concerns raised by my family leaves me pondering the future of my engagement here.
When I checked this offending account Mike Broadly, DHSc I couldn’t believe the fake profile pretended to be me by using my identical name and profile picture. Here’s what it looks like:
When I checked the fake profile, I noticed that my three favorite readers Dr John Frederick Rose, an Aussie fellow, who is also a consulting editor of ILLUMINATION publications, Intellectual Addict, and Marie Grace, Ph.D. are my good online friends. So, the fake account deceived my favorite readers and writers as they seemed to trust me online. But this trust might cause them serious issues, so I tagged them here.
Please, Friends of Medium, don’t respond to this account if you receive messages from it. Please don’t click on dodgy links they send, as they are scam sites. I don’t know who Stephen Moore is but I assume they use his account to scam writers. I was told that there is a famous Stephen Moore.
Here is how they responded to Britni Pepper one of our editors.
Here is how they responded to David B. Grinberg 🇺🇸 one of our consulting editors who is a Friend of Medium and writes amazing stories on this platform.
Why they might have cloned me — [2 Hypotheses]
As a retired scientist, I have two hypotheses. Firstly I am not as popular as Dr Mehmet Yildiz and Aiden (Illumination Gaming), who were cloned last month and wrote stories about this disgusting and concerning situation.
However, I shifted my focus from writing to extensive reading and curating stories from ILLUMINATION publications. This transition was motivated by the realization that non-boosted stories often struggle to garner views.
As a dedicated supporter of Medium, my intention was to alleviate the challenges faced by fellow writers. Notably, even established figures like Dr. Yildiz, with an impressive 85K followers, have witnessed a decline in views. This issue extends to writers with fewer followers, intensifying the struggle for visibility.
Moreover, I attribute this decline, in part, to a significant spam issue I identified yesterday on the topic pages frequented by millions of readers. I wrote this story after reading an inspiring comment on an eye-opening story of Dr Yildiz, which gave me AHA moments and piqued my scientific curiosity.
For those who may have missed my detailed exposé on this matter, you can find it in the attached story.
So my hypothesis is that as I exposed these spam accounts in the story, they might have cloned me.
Here is a sample of how recent stories from a topic page on Medium.com look like. Can you imagine what new readers exploring Medium will think about this platform when they see this ugly picture?
As the Medium algorithm put me in the distribution jail, look how many readers saw this message on ILLUMINATION-Curated, which is a boost nominating publication followed by thousands of readers and writers. I am a writer, an editor, and a curator of this publication, so many stakeholders know me but cannot see my suppressed stories.
The reason for my punishment is writing the attached story and doing a duty of call as Medium was not transparent at the time, and I volunteered. 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. My profile was shining before writing this important story.
I don’t care much about views anymore but it is my sincere hope that the Medium staff will treat this matter with the gravity it deserves, addressing the spam concerns promptly to prevent the loss of valuable readers and potential Friends of Medium, like myself, who may be deterred by such issues. Friends of Medium, like me, pay three times more than other readers to support writers.
Here is how I promoted the changes of Medium to new writers of ILLUMINATION to inspire them before its algorithm put me in the distribution jail. But I am afraid I can no longer make the same recommendation as a writer and reader after these incidents.
What can we do?
As ILLUMINATION, Dr Mehmet Yildiz, and Aiden (Illumination Gaming) informed us let’s report them immediately and not follow them. As these three profiles shared valuable information, I won’t repeat them here but will link their insightful stories so you can inform yourself.
Scam and Spam Accounts on Medium Are As Bad As Hate Speech and Defamation for Writers
Breaking News: My Clone Kicked the Bucket, and I’m Gleefully Celebrating It🎉
Urgent Notice: Beware of Fake Accounts Impersonating Influential Writers
Beware of Spam Accounts on Story Comments That Might Cause Security Problems
Message to Friends of Medium
Dear Friends of Medium, if you see this fake account, please don’t follow it and immediately report it so it can be removed from the platform as soon as possible. I wish you all a happy New Year. I am one of the proud Friends of Medium as invited by Dr Yildiz last month.
Aiden (Illumination Gaming), Elizabeth Emerald, Dawn Ulmer, Lorwen Harris Nagle, PhD, Antonio Segovia, MD., David Mokotoff, MD, Dr. Gabriella Korosi, Dr John Frederick Rose, Dr. Christine Chuckle, Dr. Julian Barkan, Mike Broadly, DHSc, Martha Manning, Ph.D., Michael Burg, MD (Satire Sommelier), Wayne Stelk, PhD, Seda Anbarcı, Rebecca Romanelli, Sven Vandenberghe, tarun bhatt, David B. Grinberg 🇺🇸, Pernoste & Dahl, Annelise Lords, Elaine Hilides, Bill Abbate, Angie Mangino, Haimish Mead, Rui Alves, Amir Bibi, Marcus Musick, The Bumble Life, Ali Alzahrani, Editor, Zeem, Barbara J. Martin, Luay Rahil, Sherry Atkinson, Jay Squires, Tom Kane, Fiona McDerment, Ammara Hassan, Rick Allen, Akaahan Terungwa, Mariana Busarova, Daniela Dragas, john creed, Meghan E. Gattignolo, Britt H., Shanté Nixon, Darlene López, Arosa Jabein, James Boylan, Ivylockewrites, Jodes Wiltshire, Kashi Writes, Robin Christine Honigsberg, Jill Ebstein, Libby Shively McAvoy, Lysandros Lysandrou, Alina Pitt, NADINE H, Senetta Diane, Omni Essence, Power of Positivity, Deborah Camp, Misty Rae, ✅ Doc Samurai Sam, Mhstuart, Wesley van Peer, Hira Chaudhry, Anshul Kummar, Ruby Noir 😈, Memoona Bilal, Charles Davie, Ani Vals, Cancer Husband, Usman Khalid Qureshi, Pete J J, Jake Roper, Gill McCulloch. FranMorelandJohns. Lovely Poems, Sanjay Singhal, Michael Zwierzanski, Patricia Ross, George M Pantazis, Lanu Pitan🥰, Matthew Bamberg, Leon Macfayden, Justiss Goode — 2.0, Marcus aka Gregory Maidman, Scarlet Ibis James 🦩, Frank Ontario | empathy, logic, love., Prasanna Srinath Subhasinghe, Joanie Adams — Sightseer; Conjurer Of Words, Oksana Kukurudza’s Sunflowers Rarely Break, Harry Hogg, Jamel Hendley/Greenviool/PawProfits, JD Adams ~ Stories From the Mountain, Pierre. Climate change & solutions. Parenteeny — teenagers can do more, Delaney Patterson, Livia Dabs RN,MSc, The Sturg, Øivind H. Solheim, David Rudder, Nanie Hurley 🌿, Haroon Shauket, Javad Oftadeh, Momentum, Sam writes 🌸, Eiman Fatima, B.R. Shenoy, Sweet Honeylu, Yana Bostongirl, The Daily Updater, Dr.Ramesh Chaurasiya, Saeed Sobhani two, Hammad Ahmad, Sania Haroon, Iqraashraf, Flow-Writer🌻, Alyce, Brian Dickens Barrabee, Nedelcu Alina, Derya Gungor, Ph.D.
Urgent Request for Attention to Spam Activities and Constructive Feedback
Dear Medium Staff,
I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to bring to your attention a matter of concern regarding a specific account on Medium. I value the Medium community and want to ensure its integrity, so I believe it is crucial to address such issues promptly.
I kindly urge the Medium staff to investigate and take immediate action by removing the mentioned account from the platform. I intend to contribute to a healthier and more reliable community, and I believe that addressing instances of spam and scams is crucial to achieving this goal.
I understand that providing constructive feedback about the messy topic pages can be challenging, and I appreciate the efforts of the Medium staff.
However, I believe my constructive feedback is in the best interest of the platform to take my concerns seriously. It is essential not to ignore issues that could potentially harm the community’s experience.
I acknowledge that this feedback may be difficult to receive, but addressing the matter will only strengthen Medium’s commitment to maintaining a high standard of content.
I hope my intention to highlight this issue does not result in unintended consequences for my Medium account as it happened before, as my goal is simply to contribute to the platform’s improvement.
Thank you for your attention to this matter, and I trust that Medium will continue to prioritize the well-being of its community.
Final Words from an Old Bloke
I read and curated hundreds of stories written by real scientists invited by Dr. Yildiz for ILLUMINATION publications. There is no list to show their curated/boosted stories on Science and Health topics, but they are full of useless content that might disturb and discourage discerning readers like me.
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.
Here is what Medium Curators recommend to 4 million science readers.
Why would readers care about the work of an old scientist if they can get answers from popular ChatGPT favored by Medium curators? Does Medium encourage writers to use ChatGPT? I hope they don’t, as it produces rubbish and contaminates writing and blogging platforms.
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.
In a moment of distress, I promptly reached out to Dr. Yildiz, my reliable support and mentor. His calming guidance allowed me to regain composure and carry on with my curation responsibilities. Subsequently, he penned a compelling story, yet regrettably, he opted not to share it on Medium, diverting it instead to NewsBreak. To understand his rationale, I encourage you to delve into the details he provides.
Thank you for reading my story I’d love to hear about your comments.
To read stories like this, you may subscribe to my content.
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