3 ms·

Medium was pretty great when they started. Minimal layout with focus on reading content and generally good writers. I think they either hired writers or at lea

Medium was pretty great when they started. Minimal layout with focus on reading content and generally good writers. I think they either hired writers or at least only allowed people “good enough” to write on the platform. They also did (and still do) an extremely good job at SEO. But then they opened the flood gate and filled themselves with a lot of bad writers, who positioned themselves as if they mattered. They piled on pop up and widgets and paywalls until the site was anything but focused on content. The only thing they do well is SEO. My last company switched from self hosting to medium and saw a noticeable uptick in lead generation. So I guess that’s why we are stuck with shitty medium.

sam0x17 4y ago
I thought the real death was when they started gating and paywalling things
- wodenokoto 4y ago
  To me it felt like they happened in tandem.
- woojoo666 4y ago
  So how do you monetise the platform then? Donations? I feel like that rarely works
  - wodenokoto 4y ago
    I feel like if they wanted to monetize through subscription they’d need an editorial team to keep the quality high. Early medium felt like you could trust the quality of an article based on the domain, the same way you used to trust that tomorrows issue of a newspaper or magazine would be high quality.
  - sam0x17 4y ago
    Medium really doesn't need a large team. The whole product could have been produced and maintained even now by 4-5 devs. An operation like that could be donation based, for sure. Not every idea deserves to be or would even be useful as a billion dollar corporate monster. Many would be maximally useful as a small donation-based service, run by 2-5 devs. Were it not for VC funding and a crazy startup culture, ideas like this would never grow beyond a 5 person company, anyway. The decline in medium usage is just a market correction. It was never a profitable idea. Once it becomes profitable, people don't want it.

sam0x17 4y ago

I thought the real death was when they started gating and paywalling things

wodenokoto 4y ago
To me it felt like they happened in tandem.
woojoo666 4y ago
So how do you monetise the platform then? Donations? I feel like that rarely works
- wodenokoto 4y ago
  I feel like if they wanted to monetize through subscription they’d need an editorial team to keep the quality high. Early medium felt like you could trust the quality of an article based on the domain, the same way you used to trust that tomorrows issue of a newspaper or magazine would be high quality.
- sam0x17 4y ago
  Medium really doesn't need a large team. The whole product could have been produced and maintained even now by 4-5 devs. An operation like that could be donation based, for sure. Not every idea deserves to be or would even be useful as a billion dollar corporate monster. Many would be maximally useful as a small donation-based service, run by 2-5 devs. Were it not for VC funding and a crazy startup culture, ideas like this would never grow beyond a 5 person company, anyway. The decline in medium usage is just a market correction. It was never a profitable idea. Once it becomes profitable, people don't want it.