Plenty of great people have cycled through #Medium at various points, but I would love to see a little bit of memory retention about their organizational history:
"Medium abruptly cancels the membership programs of its 21 remaining subscription publishers" https://www.niemanlab.org/2018/05/medium-abruptly-cancels-the-membership-programs-of-its-21-remaining-publisher-partners/
"‘We had no idea that it was coming’: Medium pulls the rug from under publications" https://www.cjr.org/business_of_news/medium-publication.php
"The long, complicated, and extremely frustrating history of Medium, 2012–present" https://www.niemanlab.org/2019/03/the-long-complicated-and-extremely-frustrating-history-of-medium-2012-present/
Medium abruptly cancels the membership programs of its 21 remaining subscription publisher partners
"Could we have a better metaphor for the way Silicon Valley considers local journalism?” fumed the owner of one of these remaining publications.
"Medium has pivoted so many times it has now come full circle" https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/medium-has-pivoted-so-many-times-it-has-now-come-full-circle.php
"Medium Pivots Again, Offers Voluntary Buyouts to Editorial Staff" https://www.thewrap.com/medium-pivots-again-offers-voluntary-buyouts-to-editorial-staff/
So I mean feel free to hop on that scorpion's back! You might have an awesome trip across the river and everyone will be super chill and friendly forever. But maybe check out the history before you hype up their new Mastodon experiment and keep your eye on the exits.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
As with Substack, there are always going to be a ton of people who very understandably feel like they have to keep quiet about the bad stuff because most writers live in various states of perpetual precarity—which is exactly why this clownshow history drives me up the wall. Tech companies buy new toys and throw away the old ones and real people get hurt.
@kissane just honestly incredible to witness this today.
Erin Kissane
Dan Sinker
Derek Powazek 🐐
Oblomov