Erin KissaneJan 12, 2023

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.

Nieman Lab
Show threadErin KissaneJan 12, 2023

"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)_/¯

Show threadErin KissaneJan 12, 2023
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.
Show threadErin KissaneJan 12, 2023

LAST ONE but I know for a fact that criticizing this stuff is professionally damaging, bc a tech company exec in NYC literally called me in on the pretense of offering editorial work, only to turn his computer around to point out a (mild) critical tweet I once sent, and demand that I explain myself before sending me home.

So keep that in mind when people stay quiet.

Show threadKen SchwenckeJan 12, 2023
@kissane oh my god Erin
Show threadErin KissaneJan 12, 2023
@ken By far the most cartoonish experience of my professional life
Show threadKen SchwenckeJan 12, 2023
@kissane did you laugh very hard and walk out
Show threadErin Kissane

@ken to be completely honest, I gapped out and came to on the street, but I'm pretty sure the gist was "ok but I said what I said"

it's not like I'm especially hardass or anything, just—come onnnn

Jan 12, 2023 at 6:47pmWeb
Show threadNicole ParsonsJan 14, 2023

@kissane @ken

There's a scene in "Saving Private Ryan" where a Nazi is knifing an American soldier and shushing him as he dies.

That's the world Republican billionaire donors are funding into existence:

Fascists demanding complicit silence as democracy is being knifed to death.

A world where mutual respect doesn't exist.

It's not being thin-skinned. It's fascists demanding silent deference to authority.

Show threadErin KissaneJan 14, 2023

@Npars01 That’s quite an aggressive mental image and response to process before coffee.

(Unfortunately, shit bosses do flourish across the political spectrum and can probably be discussed as a freestanding phenomenon, but 🤷🏻.)