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Medium has bigger issues than its implementation. It quickly turned into the platform for relatively vacuous and self-gratifying posts that are basically “This

Medium has bigger issues than its implementation. It quickly turned into the platform for relatively vacuous and self-gratifying posts that are basically “This is the deep insight I would share if I gave a TED talk”. I generally avoid going there since the quality of content is down there with long form LinkedIn posts.

bicx 4y ago
This. Its content is largely written by people who seem to feel that their own opinion has some intrinsic value to other people (I used to be one of them). Doing research and focusing on weighing opposing viewpoints is too much work. Really cuts into the cathartic act of spewing words out into the world.
paxys 4y ago
You are describing every single self-publishing platform in existence. Substack is getting there as well, as it gains popularity.
- nsonha 4y ago
  what you describe only happens to a "social network" where it's not a marketplace of content but of social credits instead. What you describe will not happen to substack same way it did not happen to youtube: people are here to sell content and make money, instead of selling their personal brand to make money elsewhere.
  - lmm 4y ago
    There are plenty of vapid self-aggrandizing talks on YouTube. Overacted stuff seems to have more success with the algorithm than slick marketer-style content, but I'm not sure that's an improvement.
    - nsonha 4y ago
      I personally have more of an issue with people who have nothing interesting to sell, and make content to sell themselves intead. I dont have any quible with people who work hard to make and sell content. If you dont like their content you dont buy it, the martket is working.
- jaspax 4y ago
  The difference, I think, is that nobody goes to "Substack", they go to particular people on Substack. The existence of low-quality stuff on Substack doesn't have any impact on me at all, since I never see it and don't have to interact with it. I suppose there is someone out there who actually browses the Substack front page, but this is very far from being the dominant mode for substack content.
  - OrderlyTiamat 4y ago
    > the Substack front page I wasn't even aware there was such a thing, all substack content I consume I found organically. I'm sure it's much the same for the majority of their readers.
  - sofixa 4y ago
    Isn't it literally the same with Medium? People go to Medium posts from Google and co, and maybe subscribe to a specific Medium poster. Medium tries to do recommendations "since you've read X you might like Y" which are fine, but i doubt many people go to Medium.
femiagbabiaka 4y ago
This is the Pareto principle at play, it’s the consequence of accessibility. But I’ve also found completely indie blogs that remind me of the Web 1.0/early 2.0 days.
paulcole 4y ago
> relatively vacuous and self-gratifying posts that are basically “This is the deep insight I would share if I gave a TED talk”. What do you think the linked “I don’t like Medium” blog post is?
- sdgluck 4y ago
  This made me laugh! You're so right. Luckily I made no claims to the contrary otherwise it would be rather awkward. As I said in the article though, I enjoy reading other people's thoughts. Hopefully others feel the same about mine one way or another, though you can't please everyone. (I am the author of the blogpost.)
kybernetikos 4y ago
> “This is the deep insight I would share if I gave a TED talk” I don't think we should be too harsh about that sort of thing. It's hard for people to learn how to have deep insights or how to communicate them if we are hyper critical of everything that isn't a perfectly formed nugget of transcendental genius. People need a bit of license to be over-excited about their own insights or over-optimistic or slightly prententious as they work out their voice. Sure, it's annoying, and taken too far it can be very unpleasant, but it's also probably a necessary part of learning to do and share anything creative.
CM30 4y ago
Yeah, this is why I left Medium too. It felt like the most successful people there were the kind of bland 'self help gurus' that posted meaningless platitudes on a regular basis, and the suggested content in their newsletter would almost only suggest that stuff. And I suspect the format of the platform encouraged that. Who is most likely to post on a platform where selling your writing for money was your foremost concern? Who would post their work on a platform where you have to sign in to view most articles? Usually people who want to 'build a brand', or start a career in blogging/public speaking/whatever. The folks who just want to share their knowledge will pick a far less annoying service.
d4rkp4ttern 4y ago
I agree. I just don’t know why it is so popular with scientific/tech folks, despite the fact that they don’t even support math notation and nice syntax highlighted code blocks. I am wondering what other “medium” is worth paying attention to? Do twitter threads have the same issue? One difference might be that you could post wrong stuff on medium with impunity, but on twitter there is a sort of implicit crowd sourced review so you have to be thoughtful.

bicx 4y ago

This. Its content is largely written by people who seem to feel that their own opinion has some intrinsic value to other people (I used to be one of them). Doing research and focusing on weighing opposing viewpoints is too much work. Really cuts into the cathartic act of spewing words out into the world.

paxys 4y ago

You are describing every single self-publishing platform in existence. Substack is getting there as well, as it gains popularity.

nsonha 4y ago
what you describe only happens to a "social network" where it's not a marketplace of content but of social credits instead. What you describe will not happen to substack same way it did not happen to youtube: people are here to sell content and make money, instead of selling their personal brand to make money elsewhere.
- lmm 4y ago
  There are plenty of vapid self-aggrandizing talks on YouTube. Overacted stuff seems to have more success with the algorithm than slick marketer-style content, but I'm not sure that's an improvement.
  - nsonha 4y ago
    I personally have more of an issue with people who have nothing interesting to sell, and make content to sell themselves intead. I dont have any quible with people who work hard to make and sell content. If you dont like their content you dont buy it, the martket is working.
jaspax 4y ago
The difference, I think, is that nobody goes to "Substack", they go to particular people on Substack. The existence of low-quality stuff on Substack doesn't have any impact on me at all, since I never see it and don't have to interact with it. I suppose there is someone out there who actually browses the Substack front page, but this is very far from being the dominant mode for substack content.
- OrderlyTiamat 4y ago
  > the Substack front page I wasn't even aware there was such a thing, all substack content I consume I found organically. I'm sure it's much the same for the majority of their readers.
- sofixa 4y ago
  Isn't it literally the same with Medium? People go to Medium posts from Google and co, and maybe subscribe to a specific Medium poster. Medium tries to do recommendations "since you've read X you might like Y" which are fine, but i doubt many people go to Medium.

femiagbabiaka 4y ago

This is the Pareto principle at play, it’s the consequence of accessibility. But I’ve also found completely indie blogs that remind me of the Web 1.0/early 2.0 days.

paulcole 4y ago

> relatively vacuous and self-gratifying posts that are basically “This is the deep insight I would share if I gave a TED talk”. What do you think the linked “I don’t like Medium” blog post is?

sdgluck 4y ago
This made me laugh! You're so right. Luckily I made no claims to the contrary otherwise it would be rather awkward. As I said in the article though, I enjoy reading other people's thoughts. Hopefully others feel the same about mine one way or another, though you can't please everyone. (I am the author of the blogpost.)

kybernetikos 4y ago

> “This is the deep insight I would share if I gave a TED talk” I don't think we should be too harsh about that sort of thing. It's hard for people to learn how to have deep insights or how to communicate them if we are hyper critical of everything that isn't a perfectly formed nugget of transcendental genius. People need a bit of license to be over-excited about their own insights or over-optimistic or slightly prententious as they work out their voice. Sure, it's annoying, and taken too far it can be very unpleasant, but it's also probably a necessary part of learning to do and share anything creative.

CM30 4y ago

Yeah, this is why I left Medium too. It felt like the most successful people there were the kind of bland 'self help gurus' that posted meaningless platitudes on a regular basis, and the suggested content in their newsletter would almost only suggest that stuff. And I suspect the format of the platform encouraged that. Who is most likely to post on a platform where selling your writing for money was your foremost concern? Who would post their work on a platform where you have to sign in to view most articles? Usually people who want to 'build a brand', or start a career in blogging/public speaking/whatever. The folks who just want to share their knowledge will pick a far less annoying service.

d4rkp4ttern 4y ago

I agree. I just don’t know why it is so popular with scientific/tech folks, despite the fact that they don’t even support math notation and nice syntax highlighted code blocks. I am wondering what other “medium” is worth paying attention to? Do twitter threads have the same issue? One difference might be that you could post wrong stuff on medium with impunity, but on twitter there is a sort of implicit crowd sourced review so you have to be thoughtful.