Reader’s Block | Medium is Great Except That it Sucks
To be clear, the fact that, as of now, nobody had ever read an article of mine on this god-forsaken website has nothing to do with why I am writing this article. I will happily keep writing and publishing no matter who sees it. But it would be nice if I didn’t have to settle for that.
Writing on Medium has been great so far, but I have some qualms. First, some positives. The actual tools for writing articles are very easy to understand and use. The site is well-organized and it’s easy to find articles you saw once but forgot to bookmark initially. To top it off, the sleek, simple look is enough to make anybody feel like a professional journalist, even though they are essentially just blogging.
Unfortunately, with the veneer of professionalism comes with all of its pitfalls, apparently.
As you’re probably aware, the majority of articles on this site (at least it seems that way) are available only for paid members to read. We’re all familiar with paywall journalism online, but in an otherwise user-friendly platform with engaging content like this one, it’s very frustrating. I cannot read, like, ninety percent of the articles that are recommended to me. I don’t even know why I’m seeing them. I don’t even know why this site is like this, or why it thinks it has the right. This is a blog site, not a Candy Crush reskin with in-app purchases.
If you truly believe that what the people here have to say is so important, what good is it if nobody can read it? You say your paid membership system is to “reward great writing”, but you know how to reward people for writing well? Make it so that more people can actually see it! This could be the best platform of all time for people to spread awareness on issues that they find important, but instead Medium has the reputation of being the internet social justice equivalent of a gated community for snooty rich folks only.
All of this is why, for the foreseeable future, I will keep my articles open to anybody even if it means they cannot be monetized. I can afford to demonstrate the change I want to see, but I know not everybody else can. i won’t invest money into this platform until it has more functionality than a McDonald’s ice cream machine.
