Monthly Stats from Our Health/Science & ILLUMINATION-Curated Pubs on Medium Looks Concerning
An updated of our two specialized publications requesting feedback from writers and readers
Dear friends, today one of the senior editors of ILLUMINATION-Curated and chief editor of Health and Science, Dr Broadly posted a bulletin on Medium depicting the situation. His analysis indicates that curated publications lose readers significantly while our generic publication ILLUMINATION is growing rapidly. He donated this story to our library as free share it with you. Please consider leaving a comment on the Medium version with your experience honestly, positive or negative which can give insights to the the community. Here is the friend link to his editorial bulletin on Medium. Thank you for reading and sharing.🙏
Why I Upgraded My FoM Subscription Again While My Health & Science Pub Lost 22K Views in July by
This is the last chance for Medium before losing this special pub contributed by 500+ health and science writers. The current situation is soul-crushing for authentic writers.
Dear Readers and Writers,
As someone committed to truth and fairness, I believe in presenting information straightforwardly without exaggeration or sugarcoating. Life is too short for silly games and dirty politics. My approach is with truth, respect, kindness, and compassion for all.
Over the past two years, I’ve experienced both the highs and lows of Medium. My account has been cloned multiple times by scammers, was accidentally suspended, and my public health stories, along with those from qualified healthcare professionals, have been censored either algorithmically or through other means.
While the community is wonderful, the platform’s management leaves much to be desired. The leadership team’s constant self-praise contrasts sharply with my observations as a retired scientist and public health professional.
This bulletin may challenge the leadership team, but my intention is to help. By listening with an open mind and humility, and by taking timely action, they can achieve true success. Ignoring constructive feedback and not being transparent, however, will only lead to imminent failure.
Why is this newsletter different?
Over the past three months, I’ve closely monitored the progress of my niche publication, Health and Science. The first month was fantastic. I was elated. With only 50 writers, several stories were boosted, and two were even selected for Staff Picks. The publication attracted 2000 unique visitors and 48K viewers in May 2024 alone. We can no longer count visitors as Medium removed the feature for unknown reasons.
May 2024 — First Month
Here is the stats of our first month for a tiny publication.
With this enthusiasm, I wrote my first uplifting newsletter. In just one month, over 500 new writers joined, and 20 editors volunteered to support the publication.
Exciting Updates from the 1st Successful Month of Health and Science Pub on Medium
I am the owner and chief editor of this specialized publication, established on the principles and core values of…medium.com
We published many more exceptional stories, yet the number of boosted stories halved. As a result, we lost 8000 views and 4000 reads despite the increasing number of writers and readers. I provided another update for the second month to inform the community the progress but it was not as uplifting as the first month.
June 2024 — Second Month
In July we published more than 100 curated stories mainly from qualified healthcare professional. As a pub owner and curator, I noticed that all stories I nominated to the boost nominating friends all rejected. None of the stories got any organic views. The only views came from my daily curated lists. And my lists were also censored and they only got views from direct links. So we lost additional 14000 views in July as shown below.
July 2024 — Third Month — Worst
In July, my personal stories and those published in Health and Science hit rock bottom. They only received views from direct links shared by me, other editors, or some writers. It felt like the algorithm had blacklisted me, suppressing my efforts as a writer, editor, and curator. Consequently, I downgraded my Friends of Medium subscription to give signals to Medium leadership. No one seems to notice it. They seem to be busy celebrating one million paid readers, hardly seeing the stories of our writers.
The Same Thing Happened to ILLUMINATION-Curated
I noticed a similar situation with ILLUMINATION-Curated, a larger and more established publication founded in 2020 by
my mentor. He invited me to this platform, making me a writer, editor, curator, and pub owner, for which I am grateful.I volunteered as a line editor for ILLUMINATION-Curated, editing at least 5 high-impact, high-quality stories from accomplished writers daily. About 70% of these stories were boosted in the first 7 months, which delighted and inspired me to support more writers. I love editing because it allows me to gain new insights and enhance the voice of writers.
However, in June, the stories I edited and nominated for boosting dropped to 10%. Feeling that my time and effort were wasted, I, like many editors, resigned from the editorial role and continued my support as a publisher. I wrote a story about this in July:
Volunteer Editing on Medium Is an Absolute Waste of Time
Here is why I won’t edit drafts from my favorite publication, ILLUMINATION-Curated, and will continue supporting it as…medium.com
With optimism, I hoped that July would be better, but every high-impact, high-quality story I marked was rejected. So, as senior editors of ILLUMINATION-Curated, the stories we voted for the boost nomination got ZERO success rate. My editor colleagues were shocked and informed our chief editor that they no longer wanted to participate in the boost program.
As a data-driven professional, Dr. Yildiz assessed the situation using qualitative and quantitative data, creating a report with his data scientist colleagues. He ultimately decided to resign from his boost nomination role and withdrew ILLUMINATION-Curated from the pilot boost program, publicly sharing his thoughts on both Medium and Substack on 1 August 2024. Here is the Medium version.
I Withdraw from the Pilot Boost Program Intentionally to Create Better Outcomes for the Community
After weighing the pros and cons, I will return ILLUMINATION-Curated to its initial purpose by sacrificing the…medium.com
Here is a picture of the ILLUMINATION Curated Stats for the last three months.
In May, the publication got 195000 views and 78000 reads.
May 2024 — Looks Great
In June the publication lost 32000 views and 9000 reads despite publishing 300+ high quality and high impact stories from accomplished writers.
June 2024 — Getting Worse
In July, after another 300 curated stories, the publication lost another 10000 views but gained 4000 reads thanks to Dr Yildiz and Aiden who started special collections to increase the reading ratio by leveraging their collective networks. Medium did not bring any noticeable traffic to the publication based on the assessment of data scientists.
July 2024 — Terrible and Scary Trend
Medium readers can no longer find thousands of edited and curated stories. How can Medium’s one million paid subscribers cannot find this special publication?
Our resigned editors ask: Did Medium blacklist ILLUMINATION-Curated because it publishes high quality and high impact content?
Informed Conclusions and Call to Action
Some writers speculate that Medium doesn’t want big publications to grow, favoring smaller and niche publications instead, hence the stagnation of ILLUMINATION. However, this is far from the truth. ILLUMINATION gained 30,000 new followers last month, growing at lightning speed. Here is the July stats of mighty ILLUMINATION which some people think it is not performing. 1.7 million views in its worse month. Mind you, we don’t edit on this pub as we do on ILLUMINATION-Curated. We publish raw content as long as meeting fundamental rules. It is mind-boggling to say the least.
In contrast, Illumination-Curated, which focuses on curated and boost-nominated content, has barely gained any followers.
Even worse, my niche publication, Health and Science, on two topics followed by over 10 million people on Medium, has not only stopped growing but has also lost views and reads.
How can Medium’s head of distribution and head of curation explain the worsening situation month by month to our community? What is really happening behind the scenes? We need transparency as a community.
I tagged them in good faith, hoping they can provide clarity and support for the community before it is too late. As an elderly, I am determined to take corrective action and cannot waste too much of my scarce time on this platform.
My Transparent Plan If Medium Fails to Rectify the Situation
If Medium cannot explain this to us, I have a plan. I gave Medium one more chance to show my commitment by upgrading my Friends of Medium membership as a reader.
As a niche publication owner, I spend hours reviewing and publishing high-quality stories with the help of volunteer editors, which costs Medium nothing. We identify harmful content, remove plagiarizers, and refer AI-written content to the Lampshade of ILLUMINATION, where writers can no longer monetize their content. I also create daily curated lists to inspire writers and delight readers. I am doing everything I can from my end.
As a pub owner, I had planned to apply for the role of boost nominator, following the advice of my mentors. However, after reviewing the rejection rates for June and July reported by established boost nominators, my enthusiasm waned. Their shock at the figures underscored the seriousness of the situation and led me to reconsider my decision.
The Bottom Line
If Medium does not want to play fair, my approach will be simple. I will delete the Health and Science publication and invite all its writers to Substack, where I will create a new publication.
Although I am a small writer on Substack, the ILLUMINATION community is massive. As a founding member and financial sponsor of the community, I will ask them to create a subscribed service for the publication and develop a revenue-sharing model for writers. One of my daughters is a professional marketer and I will assign this tedious task to her marketing agency to grow the community on Substack.
I have provided a clear and transparent position. The ball is in Medium’s court. I have nothing to lose but a lot to gain. This complicated love-hate relationship is getting worse. I cannot play silly political games here.
I am here to support authentic writers and inform avid readers like myself by leveraging my 53 years of professional experience as a public health scientist and consultant.
Thank you for reading my bulletin. I’d like to share some stories I edited and nominated to boost nominators of ILLUMINATION-Curated before they stopped their nomination work. My editor friend Aiden (Owner of Illumination Gaming) also left the boost program as his contract was terminated. This situation caused several editors to resign and delete their accounts. I wrote an attribute to Aiden.
1 July 2024: The Last Story Aiden Nominated Touched My Heart
It is from a retired educator who warmed my heart, brought fond memories, and gave me a few tears of joy as a Friend of…medium.com
Thank you for reading and sharing my post.
I have a new Substack site where I will curate stories from Medium and Substack. Please consider subscribing so that I can tag you when necessary.
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Your bulletin is very clear and insightful, Mike. Thank you. I hope Medium shows some transparency. Something is not right.
Thank you for sharing my post in your library. It is an honor for me. As a founding member I feel great. my voice is heard.