Tony, congrats and thank you for such a heartfelt letter. I see lots of comments about what's going wrong, but not many suggestions about how to fix it:
• MMP encourages clickbait content like the many making money on Medium articles, it doesn’t support quality work. Pay writers a minimum based on contribution and quality. This can be meditated by publications. Publications have budgets and can divide them between resident writers and external writers, with bonuses for when articles do really well (balancing out the divide between the 1% and the majority).
• Publications are currently a mess of different topics that share whatever gets them more views. Have a clearer direction for the top publications. What do you / the board / the readers want Medium to be about? Only allow certain topics in certain publications. No censoring, just more organisation. This is good for authors (bylines in specific pubs) and readers (they know what to expect from where).
• Writers are currently in between gig workers and gamblers. We’re trying to make a living here, but feel like we're always playing a losing game. Build more relationships with writers. You don't need to treat us like employees. We just need more security that our efforts will be rewarded. Many of us have plenty of other options, but we choose Medium because we enjoy the independence and freedom. Within the current model, however, the only way to be present on Medium is to write content that pleases the algorithm and that will get people clicking, not to produce quality work. With zero guarantee for the work we produce, every day is a gamble.
• Medium has become the Facebook of blogging. But instead of pushing ads, it pushes its own subscriptions. Then it keeps people on the platform by recommending clickbaity content. The majority of my articles get 80% or more internal views. Yes, I could build more of a network outside of Medium. But Medium has such a huge reach it could do way more to promote writers' work outside of Medium. Without a reliable stream of external views, you end up with an echo chamber of clickbaity content.
• Finally, if you want to really listen and understand how to make Medium better from a writers' perspective, talk to us directly. Get us involved. Especially those of us that are leaving the platform. Many big writers have already gone, which wouldn’t be happening if things were going well. We use your platform daily and think deeply for a living. If you want a platform that truly serves us and is known for high quality writing, we'd love to help. But currently we're left in the dark.
Medium is a free-for-all with little potential for growth for serious writers.
Decide what you are: a long-form Facebook where anyone can make a few dollars, or a serious writing platform where writers get rewarded for, like you said, constructive conversation and debate.
It can't be both.
Best wishes,
Joseph
