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So why the hell did you use it to write this article, then? I wrote a tool which converts your Medium blog into a Jekyll blog, for publishers hoping to migrate

So why the hell did you use it to write this article, then? I wrote a tool which converts your Medium blog into a Jekyll blog, for publishers hoping to migrate: https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/unmediumify https://git.sr.ht/~sircmpwn/unmediumify

wongmjane 8y ago
As an ironic living example of how it's a poor choice I guess
wpietri 8y ago
Because it's not just a platform, it's an audience. If you want to reach the audience, you have to use the platform. And the audience most in need of this message are definitely the people publishing on Medium.
- Sir_Cmpwn 8y ago
  >the audience most in need of this message are definitely the people publishing on Medium That's a good point.
- almostarockstar 8y ago
  Are you referring to platform generated content? The thing is, Medium doesn't do very well at that either. I have a medium blog. I've had a few posts got >10k reads within a month. Almost none of those reads came from Medium itself, but rather from the various outlets that have linked to my post, and Google. The only reason I currently use Medium is that people are more likely to open a Medium url when it shows up in link aggregators. People trust the familiar url far more than www.mypersonalblog.me - and it'll never get blacklisted / shadowbanned on reddit. Oh, and claps. I like the claps.
  - jasonlotito 8y ago
    > people are more likely to open a Medium url when it shows up in link aggregators. People trust the familiar url far more than www.mypersonalblog.me I know this is just anecdotal, but I assume anything coming from Medium is usually less worthwhile. First, the author isn't important on a Medium article. Medium is the brand, the other is someone that doesn't matter. Secondly, it's not easy to follow the author, so even if I did read the author bio at the bottom, following the author is a pain. Finally, everything the above article mentioned. Medium articles are all about playing SEO games and "Growth hacking" before good content (literally). I'll ready Medium articles, but personal blogs are far more credible every day of the week in my book. That being said, I would be interested in how you reached the conclusion that people are more trusting of medium articles?
    - almostarockstar 8y ago
      >That being said, I would be interested in how you reached the conclusion that people are more trusting of medium articles? Really just from my own experience. I've been writing and posting content for a few years and usually I get more clicks and comments when using the medium domain. (not always but noticeably more often)
  - detaro 8y ago
    in my experience, myname.com domains I encounter in the wild are less likely to have the kind of low-quality/marketing content medium often has. And if one posts good content, I might actually recognize their domain again (and probably follow their feeds, if they have them), whereas in Medium they'll stay stuck in the association with Medium. And Medium took the option for custom domains away again, so no chance of fixing that while still using it.
  - type0 8y ago
    Do medium posts show up more often as a search engine result? This has to be the same sort of reason some SEO "optimizers" use amazonaws.com domain to put their spammy blogs because the domain itself has some weight that is crucial for search discoverability.
  - wpietri 8y ago
    I am not. I'm just saying it's a platform for publishing in the same way HN is. If I want to reach Medium users, I'd post on medium. If I want to reach HN users, I post here.
    - almostarockstar 8y ago
      Ah ok. Fair enough. I don't think medium works for that.
      - wpietri 8y ago
        You don't think Medium is a good place to publish to reach people on Medium? What site would you recommend instead?
        almostarockstar 8y ago
        I don't know. But medium do a terrible job at sharing their own content between users.
barrow-rider 8y ago
> So why the hell did you use it to write this article, then? thatsthejoke.jpg But seriously, my guess is that the author wants you to see the things that he's talking about on the page. Like you read that the banner sucks and you can look up and see the banner and understand immediately what he's talking about without having to take his word or trust that supplied images aren't photoshopped to hell.
gruez 8y ago
reminds me of all the snarky/satrical comments along the lines of iphone is the worst phone ever! -sent from my iPhone from a decade ago
- briandear 8y ago
  Is anyone aware that using code formatting for non-code is extremely annoying because, on mobile, it’s almost impossible to read because of the necessity to side scroll.
  - coldtea 8y ago
    That's a HN CSS problem, not a problem of code formatting. They should fix it. Meanwhile, on mobile one can use one of the 10s of HN client apps.
    - saagarjha 8y ago
      The point of the “code” formatting is so that the text doesn’t wrap.
      - coldtea 8y ago
        That doesn't mean the code styled div should also not be scrollable in mobile devices or be beyond the edge.
  - Mononokay 8y ago
    Yes, everyone's aware. It's mentioned every time it's used. No one cares. Making a frictionless mobile site lowers the barrier to entry.
  - amelius 8y ago
    > using code formatting for non-code is extremely annoying Even for code it is annoying because of the wide margins. The margins take up about 50% of the width of the screen (!)
tyingq 8y ago
I like that it's written on Medium. That allows us to point out other issues, like performance. Here's what Google's lighthouse sees: https://imgur.com/a/wDCIrpP https://imgur.com/a/wDCIrpP "Time to Interactive: 10+ seconds" is particularly terrible.
l9k 8y ago
To whom is this article addressed? Medium users. Where do you find the most Medium users? Medium.
carlosperate 8y ago
That tool looks interesting, how does it get the data? Does it scrap a user profile? Can it deal with users having a large number of posts (I think the rss and json API only return a limited number of posts).

wongmjane 8y ago

As an ironic living example of how it's a poor choice I guess

wpietri 8y ago

Because it's not just a platform, it's an audience. If you want to reach the audience, you have to use the platform. And the audience most in need of this message are definitely the people publishing on Medium.

Sir_Cmpwn 8y ago
>the audience most in need of this message are definitely the people publishing on Medium That's a good point.
almostarockstar 8y ago
Are you referring to platform generated content? The thing is, Medium doesn't do very well at that either. I have a medium blog. I've had a few posts got >10k reads within a month. Almost none of those reads came from Medium itself, but rather from the various outlets that have linked to my post, and Google. The only reason I currently use Medium is that people are more likely to open a Medium url when it shows up in link aggregators. People trust the familiar url far more than www.mypersonalblog.me - and it'll never get blacklisted / shadowbanned on reddit. Oh, and claps. I like the claps.
- jasonlotito 8y ago
  > people are more likely to open a Medium url when it shows up in link aggregators. People trust the familiar url far more than www.mypersonalblog.me I know this is just anecdotal, but I assume anything coming from Medium is usually less worthwhile. First, the author isn't important on a Medium article. Medium is the brand, the other is someone that doesn't matter. Secondly, it's not easy to follow the author, so even if I did read the author bio at the bottom, following the author is a pain. Finally, everything the above article mentioned. Medium articles are all about playing SEO games and "Growth hacking" before good content (literally). I'll ready Medium articles, but personal blogs are far more credible every day of the week in my book. That being said, I would be interested in how you reached the conclusion that people are more trusting of medium articles?
  - almostarockstar 8y ago
    >That being said, I would be interested in how you reached the conclusion that people are more trusting of medium articles? Really just from my own experience. I've been writing and posting content for a few years and usually I get more clicks and comments when using the medium domain. (not always but noticeably more often)
- detaro 8y ago
  in my experience, myname.com domains I encounter in the wild are less likely to have the kind of low-quality/marketing content medium often has. And if one posts good content, I might actually recognize their domain again (and probably follow their feeds, if they have them), whereas in Medium they'll stay stuck in the association with Medium. And Medium took the option for custom domains away again, so no chance of fixing that while still using it.
- type0 8y ago
  Do medium posts show up more often as a search engine result? This has to be the same sort of reason some SEO "optimizers" use amazonaws.com domain to put their spammy blogs because the domain itself has some weight that is crucial for search discoverability.
- wpietri 8y ago
  I am not. I'm just saying it's a platform for publishing in the same way HN is. If I want to reach Medium users, I'd post on medium. If I want to reach HN users, I post here.
  - almostarockstar 8y ago
    Ah ok. Fair enough. I don't think medium works for that.
    - wpietri 8y ago
      You don't think Medium is a good place to publish to reach people on Medium? What site would you recommend instead?
      - almostarockstar 8y ago
        I don't know. But medium do a terrible job at sharing their own content between users.

barrow-rider 8y ago

> So why the hell did you use it to write this article, then? thatsthejoke.jpg But seriously, my guess is that the author wants you to see the things that he's talking about on the page. Like you read that the banner sucks and you can look up and see the banner and understand immediately what he's talking about without having to take his word or trust that supplied images aren't photoshopped to hell.

gruez 8y ago

reminds me of all the snarky/satrical comments along the lines of iphone is the worst phone ever! -sent from my iPhone from a decade ago

briandear 8y ago
Is anyone aware that using code formatting for non-code is extremely annoying because, on mobile, it’s almost impossible to read because of the necessity to side scroll.
- coldtea 8y ago
  That's a HN CSS problem, not a problem of code formatting. They should fix it. Meanwhile, on mobile one can use one of the 10s of HN client apps.
  - saagarjha 8y ago
    The point of the “code” formatting is so that the text doesn’t wrap.
    - coldtea 8y ago
      That doesn't mean the code styled div should also not be scrollable in mobile devices or be beyond the edge.
- Mononokay 8y ago
  Yes, everyone's aware. It's mentioned every time it's used. No one cares. Making a frictionless mobile site lowers the barrier to entry.
- amelius 8y ago
  > using code formatting for non-code is extremely annoying Even for code it is annoying because of the wide margins. The margins take up about 50% of the width of the screen (!)

tyingq 8y ago

I like that it's written on Medium. That allows us to point out other issues, like performance. Here's what Google's lighthouse sees: https://imgur.com/a/wDCIrpP https://imgur.com/a/wDCIrpP "Time to Interactive: 10+ seconds" is particularly terrible.

l9k 8y ago

To whom is this article addressed? Medium users. Where do you find the most Medium users? Medium.

carlosperate 8y ago

That tool looks interesting, how does it get the data? Does it scrap a user profile? Can it deal with users having a large number of posts (I think the rss and json API only return a limited number of posts).