4 ms·

Medium provides a lot of value to both readers and writers. I think people don't like signing up or paying because they're not used to having to do that, so it

by arikr 7y ago

Medium provides a lot of value to both readers and writers. I think people don't like signing up or paying because they're not used to having to do that, so it feels unfair. But if you look at the trade-off objectively, it's very worth it. Medium adds much more than $10/month of value to my life, just in terms of the articles I read there. That's perhaps two coffees. Just another perspective. I think we often have unreasonably high standards for what we're owed by software companies, that we don't have when those companies make hardware and physical goods.

leotaku 7y ago
I find it interesting you say that Medium provides +10€ value to you every month. I'd say the writers that choose to be on Medium and would otherwise use another platform, provide that value to you. Be realistic, how many of the writers you enjoy actually benefit from the affiliate program? I would guess not many. (I could be wrong of course) For the "high expectations" argument I'd say there are other options that match those expectations. Of course we should be able to say Medium is worse than them.
oblib 7y ago
I'm not arguing Medium doesn't have value. That's not what stopped me there. Personally, I love the design of the site and have found some great content there. It's been quite awhile since I've been to Medium and I was disappointed by the intrusion to access the content I was interested in but more put off with being asked to share data with Google and Facebook on what I read there. Had Medium asked me to pay for a subscription I would make my choice to pay or not, but being asked to let them tell Google and FB what I'm reading there just feels yucky. Thinking about my own reaction got me to wondering how others react to it and motivated to let others, and especially authors, know how I reacted and why. Startup school is big on user feedback. This post generated quite a bit, and most of it was pretty good.

by arikr 7y ago

leotaku 7y ago

I find it interesting you say that Medium provides +10€ value to you every month. I'd say the writers that choose to be on Medium and would otherwise use another platform, provide that value to you. Be realistic, how many of the writers you enjoy actually benefit from the affiliate program? I would guess not many. (I could be wrong of course) For the "high expectations" argument I'd say there are other options that match those expectations. Of course we should be able to say Medium is worse than them.

oblib 7y ago

I'm not arguing Medium doesn't have value. That's not what stopped me there. Personally, I love the design of the site and have found some great content there. It's been quite awhile since I've been to Medium and I was disappointed by the intrusion to access the content I was interested in but more put off with being asked to share data with Google and Facebook on what I read there. Had Medium asked me to pay for a subscription I would make my choice to pay or not, but being asked to let them tell Google and FB what I'm reading there just feels yucky. Thinking about my own reaction got me to wondering how others react to it and motivated to let others, and especially authors, know how I reacted and why. Startup school is big on user feedback. This post generated quite a bit, and most of it was pretty good.