Medium Feels Like An Empty Fridge Lately and it Makes Me Sad
By: Linda Caroll
Tags: Self, Advice, Opinion, Success, Writing

We’re not supposed to write about Medium. They don’t like it. At least, that’s what the curation guide says. But I don’t know how else to express my frustration with some of the recent changes.

Some small consolation — I’m not writing to tell you how to make money. lol. Enough of my brethren doing that. Don’t need to add another voice shouting into the void and pretending changes haven’t happened here.

I don’t know what experience you’re having, but mine is some combination of doomscrolling and how to make money on Medium. It sucks.

You know what doomscrolling is, right?

It’s the act of consuming an endless procession of negative online news, to the detriment of the scroller’s mental wellness.

Donald Trump, Donald Trump, Covid, more Covid, More Trump…

And if it’s not that, then it’s how to make money on Medium.

How much I earned on Medium, my first 2 months (6 months, 2 years) on Medium, why you aren’t getting views on Medium.

That’s Medium in a nutshell, lately.

Doomscrolling and makin’ bank on Medium.

Oh. And self help. Because we all know that with millions unemployed because of a pandemic, if someone is struggling it’s their own damn fault, right? It’s not a widespread systemic problem at all, right?

Just go be like Jeff Bezos. Anyone can start a corporation, you know.

Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.

And by the way, here’s how to be more likeable.

It’s f — king exhausting. Pardon my french.

Which is bull. If I was French I’d scream Tabernac!

Loading the homepage lately is like the day before grocery shopping when you keep opening the fridge hoping something good will magically appear, but it never freaking does.

Yup. Still empty. Damn.

1. Who the hell picked the top of the page content?

If it was full of content from people I read and follow, that might work. But it’s not. Usually, it’s at least half “how to make money on medium” posts.

Personally I find those to be disingenuous and demotivational.

Seriously. Go to INC or any print publication site. Do you go to Forbes and read about how to make money on Forbes? I mean, even the Huffington post doesn’t do that. No how to make money on Huffpo on their site.

No. That’s a unique to Medium.

Look, I’m not judging. We all have our preferences. Write that stuff if you want. I realize it gets clicks. Like bringing candy to the playground.

Read it if you want. I don’t care. But I don’t want to read it. So why is Medium shoving those in my face? Shouldn’t preference count for something? I mean, that’s what man invented algorithms for, isn’t it?

I’ve tried everything I can think of to get rid of those. I’ve unfollowed entire publications and they still appear. Why is that?

I mean, I guess I can start muting people. I don’t like doing that. It seems childish. Unprofessional. But it seems like the only option you’ve left us because your algorithm isn’t the brightest light on the dash.

Moving on down the page…

2. Trending articles might be. Or not.

Trending stories are supposed to be what they’re called. Right? The stories that are picking up momentum. And sometimes they are. Like that story by Chrissy Teigen or the one by Barack Obama.

Okay. Fair enough. Those were probably trending, for real.

But what about that “trending” story published 24 hours ago with 50 claps and no comments. How is that trending? According to who?

I’ve written lots of stories that bombed and only got 50 claps 24 hours later. I can promise you, they didn’t appear in the trending section.

So what’s that about?

After watching awhile, seems to me trending might function like a curation tag. As if editors get to push a story by shoving it into the trending section. Look — if editors want to push stories, that’s their prerogative. It’s your site. But don’t call it trending. Words mean things for a reason.

As David Ogilvy famously said — the consumer is not a moron.

We are the consumer. We are not morons.

3. Those 8 little faces are starting to tick me off

I liked them, at first. Because (at first) I was under the delusion that everyone I follow would rotate there. But nope. Doesn’t work that way.

Yes, I did figure out that you have to click on one or it won’t change.

But even still — it’s still predominantly the same faces. I could count about a dozen or two people that rotate in that spot. Consistently.

I can think of at least half a dozen people I read that have never been there. I have to go looking for them. Some of the people I follow write a lot. And they’ve never been there. Ever. Like — not once. Why is that?

But I promise you, the minute Ev has a new post, he WILL appear there. Even if other people I read have written 3 new posts that did not appear there. Which begs the question.

Is it weighted somehow?

Or how does that work?

4. Where are the people I come here to read?

Yes, I know that thing Medium said about “how” people read. They said “most” people don’t read specific writers. They just want great titles.

I don’t believe that for a minute. Know why? We wouldn’t “follow” people if we didn’t care who the writer was.

If all we cared about was hot headlines, would be even be at Medium? Or would Fox News or CNN do, depending on which way we lean. Or hell, buzzfeed. They’ve even cleaned up their act a little.

Medium was different. Being able to follow the writers we like was what made Medium different. Know what I mean?

When I finally started searching names of people I haven’t seen in a while, why did I discover that some of them had written several articles that didn’t ever appear on my homepage or my feed? Several!

Where are the people I come here to read?

Should I actually need to go to the list of people I follow and scroll through to see who I haven’t heard boo from lately?

You’ve talked about a new “relational” model, but I don’t know what that means because what I’m seeing doesn’t seem terribly relational.

Could you explain how it works?

Or fix it if it doesn’t?

Why have views tanked for so many people?

I know it’s not just me. I follow a bunch of Medium groups and even though I don’t post my links in the groups, I do see the posts in my FB feed.

So many people saying their views have tanked. So many.

There’s even talk that Medium is “suppressing” views for some writers because they’re trying to build their “brand.”

Is that true? No freaking clue. I sure hope not.

But the radio silence isn’t good.

You know what a brand is, right? It’s what people say about you when you’re not in the room. Go ahead, ask me what McDonald’s is.

Here’s the part that slays me.

Most people like to do good. If they know what that means.

Know what the number one management tip is? Catch people doing something right and tell them.

This is not a comprehensive list

I’ve seen tons of those. I won’t even discuss the horrible dark backgrounds and myspace inspired color schemes that make me shut the tab instantly. I already wrote about those.

Point is, seems to me I’m not the only one that’s frustrated. Know where the frustration comes from? Lack of communication.

Isn’t that always the problem?

Look, you get to do whatever you want with the site. It’s your site. But communication goes a real long way.

Talk to us. Tell us what you’re looking for so we can try to deliver more of that. Tell us what you don’t want so we can try to deliver less of that.

Not everyone will listen. Some people have never read the curation guide. Some people plagiarize other people. But they’re the minority.

Most of us? We just want an enjoyable experience here. To read the stuff we enjoy and to be read by the people who enjoy our writing in return.

Should that really be so hard?