1. Low quality content / not enough "gatekeeping". My perception is that Medium presented itself as a classier / higher-quality blogging platform, but that inev

1. Low quality content / not enough "gatekeeping". My perception is that Medium presented itself as a classier / higher-quality blogging platform, but that inevitably got diluted over time as more people joined. 2. Bad timing. Medium probably could have been Substack, but Substack seems to be capturing a lucky moment when trust in mainstream media is completely imploding, censorship is rife, and lots of independent voices are looking for alternative platforms. Substack is also attracting lots of domain experts who aren't traditional writers / journalists but see in Substack an easy way to monetize their expertise. 3. As for an exodus from Medium -> Substack, probably a lot of that is just Substack seeming cooler / more exclusive than Medium at this point. My expectation is that Substack will inevitably have a censorship crisis when it is forced to deplatform writers with "fringe" ideas (most likely on the right) and then it will lose its reputation as a more independent / free-speech platform, and the attention will move on to the next platform.