Leaving Medium

I have been a Medium user since 2016. Back then, Medium was a promising blogging platform that dared to be different. Back then, the blogging landscape was dominated by WordPress. Medium aimed to be different by connecting readers to articles and writers that they would like, something that WordPress still can’t match today. It also offered more insightful content — for short, it was revolutionary at that time.

That’s why I chose it as my blogging platform back then.

Looking back, I chose to write in Medium not to attract more clicks or generate buzz — rather, my intent was to write what I was thinking or to be more precise, my opinions and thoughts on political, social or tech issues.

Some of my articles generated buzz and claps, while some didn’t. I was writing, pure and simple. When I wasn’t writing, I was discovering some great content instead. Think James Clear, Benjamin Hardy, and more. Medium was a great platform — until it wasn’t.

It was 2017 when Medium introduced its Partner Program. The idea behind the program was laudable, and represent a shift from the traditional method of getting paid for a blog article simply because the readers have seen ad x, y, or z. Medium Partner Program pays the writers according to how much engagement they got with their readers — to be precise, how much of their articles was read. Back then, I didn’t care at all on this program — as long as I was writing and reading great articles from the platform.

As the years passed though, I have noticed a shift from the articles that I read. What used to be free is now hidden behind a paywall. Yes, there’s a grace period of 3 articles, and I understand that writers have to earn money. So, all is still well for me. I will just keep reading more articles that are free.

Come 2019 and things went south. At that time, it was now rarer for me to discover a truly engaging content. Worse, articles have gotten repetitive — all because they are now aimed at generating profits from the writer instead. Well, I could say that I am guilty of doing this too. During that time, I have thought of capitalizing on my writing skills and decided to write articles that may not really reflect on what I was thinking. A paradigm shift in how I view Medium happened — it was a platform for me to earn money, if I could write articles that fancy the readers. Some of my articles reflected that view.

Fast forward to today and I think that Medium is not the place anymore for my genuine musings. It is not a blogging platform anymore, but rather a place to discover articles that may fancy some readers. A platform to reap the award of having the most claps.

Don’t get me wrong, as Medium still holds some genuine gems that are worth the read. For now though, I’m taking a break from this platform. I’m moving to Listed.to instead since I’m writing not to impress or get more views, but I’m writing to express my thoughts.

With that in mind, I’m keeping some of the articles I have written in the past here. My Listed.to page will serve as my homepage for future articles.