Thank you for articulating the situation clearly Mike. I was optimistic until the last 3 days, but seeing Scott's message confused me and turned it into disappointment. I decided to pause writing and publishing, as explained in a new post today.
I canceled my Medium membership earlier this year after realizing that it was a huge waste of my time. "The algorithm changed" was the buzz I'd been hearing, and the result was just as you described: a complete devaluing of the wonderful work contributed by its members. Many, including myself, have migrated to Substack--a different business model, one I can't completely get on board with. I'm not into self-selling. At my age (I'm only a year or two behind you) the wisdom I wish to share shouldn't need me to pedal my wares.
I wish Medium would get it together. If they do, I'll be back. But I don't have a good feeling about this.
My writing used to appear primarily on Medium (I have 300 stories there) but I now treat it as an empty hallway with a cork board where I sometimes post my stories after they’ve been published elsewhere. It’s been managed horribly.
I've been disappointed with Medium for some time. Now, that I've moved over to substack, I see just how badly designed and administrated Medium is today. For one thing, why should writers have to pay a subscription fee for the honor of publishing their work? In the past, the thought was that fee would be offset by all the money each writer would earn from their work. Well, that was true for a while but certainly not now. Add to that the changes in the algorithm and the plagiarized writing and I have to wonder what is the point? For myself, I'm not publishing any of my work there again, and I've cancelled my subscription.
You speak for many of us, Mike, thank you. Wasn't long ago that Medium seemed to be the place to be. People were getting read and seen, and making a little money. Many of us were happy to become "Friends of Medium." Reads have dropped big-time since then. Was it a deliberate change to the algorithm? The old bait-and-switch? Just plain incompetence? Who knows? One thing's clear: the platform's losing credibility with each passing day.
I too just joined the 2 cent club. I do not use AI. According to my Grammarly reports, I use unusual word combinations more often than 91% of Grammarly writers. This is the way I write. I expect this is because I have spent 25 years teaching visual art and love to approach writing with a creative spirit too. I understand that the bots that decide if something is written by AI look for unusual word combinations. So I have been marked as a spammer. I am done with Medium too. The lack of transparency in their payment system is disheartening. Hooray for Substack! And thank you for your article.
A timely intervention, thanks Mike. However, I am not holding my breath that it will have the required impact on Medium’s administrators. I left a comment on Scott’ s ‘explanatory’ post, and (ironically) received an AI-generated reply directing me to a disguised Whatsapp address! Obviously he himself has now been scammed- I am reaching the conclusion that Medium does not have the technical expertise an/or will to effectively counter the scammers. The survival of Medium itself is teetering on a knife-edge, and one would hope that Tony Stubbledine will take urgent steps to address the problem.
Thank you for writing this. It is truly disheartening. I also advocated much for the platform, and saw my earnings drops from a couple hundred a month (I was working hard for this), to cents. I also cancelled my FOM membership, and recently even the $5. membership. I also know the platform doesn't even send new articles to people who signed up to receive a person's work. One person even added one of my stories to their list titled, 'writers I love that I can't find on the algo'. I've never been suspended, but can tell my work has been shadowbanned. There's been supposed glitch after glitch for MONTHS. I suspect its always been about the money, even the glitches in order to stop paying writers. Its such a slap in the face to writers who deserve to be paid for their work. I doubt the CEO's and staff are working for free.....
Not sure if it's related, but when I first published on Medium a few years ago, I got popular, constantly named one of the most popular writers in Life. One article earned me more than $4,000. But then soon all the things were gone; my earning of that article was even "changed" to $2,600. I know the algorithm is way different and it must be one of the main reasons; my articles right now got absolutely zero attention, no income at all. I have no idea what is going on.
I, too, have been disillusioned by Medium. Earning pennies, but more than that, I am so tired of the the WhatsApp scams which are growing exponentially.
I just cancelled my Medium membership because I was not using it as much as years past. I have too many places to write, and this one was not working as I didn't use it as I should. I actually wrote down all the "reads' views ' and money" and it amounts to weird statistics that make no sense. Good by to what I thought is a wonderful place. Substack is where I write occasionally, but my website newsletter is where I spend my time ... and just finishing up a book. I have been on Patreon but also not using it, so will probably leave that platform as well. The years of doing a blog were wonderful before all these other sites came along. Yes, I do an occasional blog post on my website as well. Thank you for your words above.
I was not aware about spammers, but the fact that two of my articles about the opaque nature of earnings here on Medium went viral is telling. People are frustrated since no one know what we are earning and why. It is also frustrating that quality matters nothing. I actually commented on one member's story that she is a gifted writer and that I really enjoyed reading her story, but she hardly had any claps and no comments besides mine. My simple articles have more readers than my more complex ones, let alone my poetry. A few of my readers have commented that they find my writing authentic and refreshing and that more and more content is written by AI - even though that is against the rules. Editors here are unpaid and overwhelmed. They have to read and publish and weed out more and more AI content. I don't know about the heyday of medium. I was not around then, but from what I hear, it's getting worse every year.
I am former 2-year member of Medium and spent one year of that time as a volunteer editor for Illumination. I gave up trying to figure Medium's problems and moved on. It appeared to me they rigged their algorithms to pay writers less and boost their profits. The straw that broke the camel's back happened when I had zero internal reads and thousands of external reads. It didn't
Thank you for articulating the situation clearly Mike. I was optimistic until the last 3 days, but seeing Scott's message confused me and turned it into disappointment. I decided to pause writing and publishing, as explained in a new post today.
https://medium.com/illumination/this-is-my-last-story-on-medium-until-the-algorithm-is-fairly-adjusted-fba50c38543c
I need advice. What would you do regarding this issue? I am new to Substack and learning everything that I can. I appreciate your help.
Hi Misty, I am working on this issue and will provide an update from my Content Marketing Insights publication on Substack.
I canceled my Medium membership earlier this year after realizing that it was a huge waste of my time. "The algorithm changed" was the buzz I'd been hearing, and the result was just as you described: a complete devaluing of the wonderful work contributed by its members. Many, including myself, have migrated to Substack--a different business model, one I can't completely get on board with. I'm not into self-selling. At my age (I'm only a year or two behind you) the wisdom I wish to share shouldn't need me to pedal my wares.
I wish Medium would get it together. If they do, I'll be back. But I don't have a good feeling about this.
My writing used to appear primarily on Medium (I have 300 stories there) but I now treat it as an empty hallway with a cork board where I sometimes post my stories after they’ve been published elsewhere. It’s been managed horribly.
PS And no need to incorporate an implied apology for your age in your title- with age comes insight and wisdom.
I've been disappointed with Medium for some time. Now, that I've moved over to substack, I see just how badly designed and administrated Medium is today. For one thing, why should writers have to pay a subscription fee for the honor of publishing their work? In the past, the thought was that fee would be offset by all the money each writer would earn from their work. Well, that was true for a while but certainly not now. Add to that the changes in the algorithm and the plagiarized writing and I have to wonder what is the point? For myself, I'm not publishing any of my work there again, and I've cancelled my subscription.
You speak for many of us, Mike, thank you. Wasn't long ago that Medium seemed to be the place to be. People were getting read and seen, and making a little money. Many of us were happy to become "Friends of Medium." Reads have dropped big-time since then. Was it a deliberate change to the algorithm? The old bait-and-switch? Just plain incompetence? Who knows? One thing's clear: the platform's losing credibility with each passing day.
I too just joined the 2 cent club. I do not use AI. According to my Grammarly reports, I use unusual word combinations more often than 91% of Grammarly writers. This is the way I write. I expect this is because I have spent 25 years teaching visual art and love to approach writing with a creative spirit too. I understand that the bots that decide if something is written by AI look for unusual word combinations. So I have been marked as a spammer. I am done with Medium too. The lack of transparency in their payment system is disheartening. Hooray for Substack! And thank you for your article.
They threw me off the place just before the ship started sinking...
A timely intervention, thanks Mike. However, I am not holding my breath that it will have the required impact on Medium’s administrators. I left a comment on Scott’ s ‘explanatory’ post, and (ironically) received an AI-generated reply directing me to a disguised Whatsapp address! Obviously he himself has now been scammed- I am reaching the conclusion that Medium does not have the technical expertise an/or will to effectively counter the scammers. The survival of Medium itself is teetering on a knife-edge, and one would hope that Tony Stubbledine will take urgent steps to address the problem.
Thank you for writing this. It is truly disheartening. I also advocated much for the platform, and saw my earnings drops from a couple hundred a month (I was working hard for this), to cents. I also cancelled my FOM membership, and recently even the $5. membership. I also know the platform doesn't even send new articles to people who signed up to receive a person's work. One person even added one of my stories to their list titled, 'writers I love that I can't find on the algo'. I've never been suspended, but can tell my work has been shadowbanned. There's been supposed glitch after glitch for MONTHS. I suspect its always been about the money, even the glitches in order to stop paying writers. Its such a slap in the face to writers who deserve to be paid for their work. I doubt the CEO's and staff are working for free.....
Not sure if it's related, but when I first published on Medium a few years ago, I got popular, constantly named one of the most popular writers in Life. One article earned me more than $4,000. But then soon all the things were gone; my earning of that article was even "changed" to $2,600. I know the algorithm is way different and it must be one of the main reasons; my articles right now got absolutely zero attention, no income at all. I have no idea what is going on.
I, too, have been disillusioned by Medium. Earning pennies, but more than that, I am so tired of the the WhatsApp scams which are growing exponentially.
I just cancelled my Medium membership because I was not using it as much as years past. I have too many places to write, and this one was not working as I didn't use it as I should. I actually wrote down all the "reads' views ' and money" and it amounts to weird statistics that make no sense. Good by to what I thought is a wonderful place. Substack is where I write occasionally, but my website newsletter is where I spend my time ... and just finishing up a book. I have been on Patreon but also not using it, so will probably leave that platform as well. The years of doing a blog were wonderful before all these other sites came along. Yes, I do an occasional blog post on my website as well. Thank you for your words above.
I was not aware about spammers, but the fact that two of my articles about the opaque nature of earnings here on Medium went viral is telling. People are frustrated since no one know what we are earning and why. It is also frustrating that quality matters nothing. I actually commented on one member's story that she is a gifted writer and that I really enjoyed reading her story, but she hardly had any claps and no comments besides mine. My simple articles have more readers than my more complex ones, let alone my poetry. A few of my readers have commented that they find my writing authentic and refreshing and that more and more content is written by AI - even though that is against the rules. Editors here are unpaid and overwhelmed. They have to read and publish and weed out more and more AI content. I don't know about the heyday of medium. I was not around then, but from what I hear, it's getting worse every year.
I am former 2-year member of Medium and spent one year of that time as a volunteer editor for Illumination. I gave up trying to figure Medium's problems and moved on. It appeared to me they rigged their algorithms to pay writers less and boost their profits. The straw that broke the camel's back happened when I had zero internal reads and thousands of external reads. It didn't
make sense.
Hi Arlo, good to hear from you. I hope all is well with you. I also paused writing on Medium and discussing the resolutions of recent issues. I will provide an update soon. If you are still on Medium, you can leave this feedback on my farewell story. https://medium.com/illumination/this-is-my-last-story-on-medium-until-the-algorithm-is-fairly-adjusted-fba50c38543c
Thanks Mike for sharing this