Medium’s Virtue Signalling is Highly Annoying

This is a response to Be Part of a Better Internet by Medium’s CEO Tony Stubblebine.

Tony’s previous article, which caught my attention, was from August 2023. Medium announced significant changes to its Partner Program. It sounded like a promise of a brighter future for writers.

Yeah right. My earnings since Medium’s change:

The trend has stayed the same ever since. I’ve been producing the same volume of output and stayed true to my voice but earnings have been a fraction of what they used to be.

I’m not making my living from Medium. I’m building my audience. So, I’m not lamenting the loss of hundreds of dollars (though it hurts). I’m annoyed by virtue signaling and hypocrisy.

Then Medium announced again how it’s changing the platform for the better — of course, for the benefit of writers — by inviting me to become a friend of Medium and pay some extra monthly fee. An attempt to frame solicitation as a virtuous act.

Now this:

Excuse me — it won’t be free for whom? For me? Am I being asked to repair the future of the Internet by paying a bit more to…