A Medium American Disaster

Time to put the ashes on the shelf

The flames take hold of a beloved institution - AI image by NightCafé...

Medium.com has been a big part of my life for years. Sometimes consuming my whole work day, often leaving me gasping in frustration or shouting for joy, it has been a reliable money-spinner as well as a great writing environment.

I have earned tens of thousands of dollars from my five accounts, one way or another. I had two Friends of Medium accounts, three regular ones, and just dealing with the messages and emails was a huge task.

It was fun, it was profitable, and perhaps best of all, I could help other writers find their feet and go on to make solid careers building a readership, publishing books, and making money.

Medium was, at its best, a place where readers could, for five dollars a month, spend their entire day reading high-quality stories on every conceivable subject.

There was no overt advertising, intrusive and distracting. There were like-minded people, editing publications, lifting standards, serving their audiences.

Medium was the place to find your tribe, whatever it might be.

It was bright, friendly, supportive, rewarding, fun.

The model was simple enough: writers were paid by readers. The more readers, the more money.

Of course there were scammers and shonks, trying to artificially inflate their numbers, copying the work of others, gaming the system.

I put a lot of effort into dealing with these crooks and supporting and promoting writers of genuine talent and ability.

And then the rumours began

The word from the top was always positive. Yes, they recognised that there were problems. Yes, they were dealing with them, and yes, things would improve on a fast track back to the glory days.

Uh-huh.

People began noticing inconsistencies. Things didn’t add up. The success stories promoted by management didn’t ring true.

And the genuine creatives putting out excellent content were reporting lowered income, reduced readership, screens full of promoted articles that they had no interest in reading.

Accounts were cloned, genuine accounts suspended, there was always trouble and uncertainty. Not a good look.

AI submissions skyrocketed, despite the efforts to deal with them.

I experimented with AI writing myself. Yes, AI could write in an acceptable fashion, and it could produce good articles with expert prompting and revision.

But your average AI scammer simply used default inputs and outputs and their work - if one could call it that - was deserving of the title “AI slop”.

I found outlets that were apparently never-ending sources of drivel. The words were spelled correctly, the grammar was good, it all looked great but there was little substance to it. You could - I suspect - scroll eternally and never reach the end, with new stories being generated on the fly, each one a unique entity, different from all the others, each one the same in the emptiness and pointlessness.

There were AI accounts producing AI articles read by other AI accounts, just to boost the numbers, game the algorithm, earn a few dollars more than the membership fees and draw eyeballs away from stories that people might actually want to read.

And people began grumbling and leaving

For the genuine creative writers, things went downhill. The readers were directed elsewhere, the engagement stalled, the money stopped coming in.

All I ever wanted as a reader on Medium was a flow of stories from the writers I liked and the occasional story from someone new that a smart algorithm predicted I would enjoy.

Instead, my recommendations were maybe ten percent of stories from writers I knew and loved, ten percent that I might like, and eighty percent rubbish that was a sad disappointment.

The mood changed. No longer exciting and entertaining, it became a slog to get through the day.

Writers moved elsewhere, experimenting with other platforms and then upping stakes entirely.

The final straw

A few days ago I declined to renew my Friend of Medium subscription. I couldn’t see the value in it. Paying three times as much for no appreciable benefit.

And then this happened:

Dropping the bombshell - screenshot for review purposes

There is nobody on Medium who has given more to the community. Dr Mehmet Yildiz has helped thousands of writers, consistently devoted himself to increasing the power and reach of writers, promoted the good writers, encouraged the not-so-good to improve, and provided inspiration and leadership of a high order.

Medium.com should be pinning medals on his chest for his tireless support. As a volunteer editor I can vouch for his leading by example in dealing with the huge workload of running multiple busy publications.

It is a tragedy that this has come about. Medium HQ needs to explain what is happening. They need to come clean with the community. They need to show how they can turn things around.

You know what, my confidence in this happening is close to zero.

My own efforts are now focused on Substack. I want to provide value for my subscribers, I want to build new income streams, I want to see readers become writers and soar to success.

It’s not happening on Medium, that’s for sure!

If you want to follow this story, follow Dr Mehmet. He has his own website here.

Substack publications here:

Welcome to Illumination Writing Academy & Reading Club for Freelance Writers

Dr Mehmet is a man with a plan and that plan is to help others grow as writers and as human beings. His vision over the past years has been unwavering and positive.

It is a shame that Medium has proven unsatisfactory. It is a joy that Dr Mehmet has found other ways to build and grow a community of readers and writers reaching for the stars.

If you want good reading, follow one of the publications above and watch the recommendations.

If you want to develop as a writer and Substack entrepeneur, do the same.

His advice is good, his support steadfast, his encouragement a delight.

Thank you!

Britni