6 ms·

I'm torn on this, honestly. We want an internet with less ads, but good writers deserve to get paid. They can get paid via Medium (though how much, I don't kno

I'm torn on this, honestly. We want an internet with less ads, but good writers deserve to get paid. They can get paid via Medium (though how much, I don't know) through subscriptions. Is that the worse than ads or newspapers?

Victerius 4y ago
I enjoy good writing, but the only writing I'm willing to pay for is print books (I just bought a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Fall of Gondolin", the hardcover, illustrated one by HarperCollins). I don't want to pay for newspapers, for investigative journalism, or for long form article magazines like The Atlantic or The New Yorker. Nevermind Medium of all places, because Medium has no barrier of entry. No gatekeeping (and, given how easy it is to merely write a blurb of text, I have rather high standards for what I choose to pay to read). I'd rather consume from the likes of Amazon and have them run these writing platforms (e.g. WaPo) at a loss. Which means I'm paying for writers, in the end, just in a very indirect way. This sits well with me. But if the choice before me was to pay for writers directly (like Medium), or let non-book writers as a profession disappear, I'd opt for the latter. You may criticize this attitude. I assume the responsibility for that and I'm being honest.
- echelon 4y ago
  I want a world where I pay creators directly.
  - landemva 4y ago
    Brave browser allows me to send tips to content creators. I like it. https://support.brave.com/hc/en-us/articles/360021123971-How-do-I-tip-websites-and-Content-Creators-in-Brave-Rewards- https://support.brave.com/hc/en-us/articles/360021123971-How...
bachmeier 4y ago
What you say is true, but that doesn't mean it should be posted to HN. The purpose of this site is to discuss articles. This one's behind a paywall. Even if you sign up for a free account, you may have used up your two free articles per month. That invites people to comment without reading the article. That's not why HN exists. (I actually checked the comments hoping someone posted a copy of the article.)
- ThunderSizzle 4y ago
  An incognito window is all that is needed for medium. I've seen other pay walls posted in HN that take more to get around.
  - andreareina 4y ago
    Medium annoys me far more than e.g. Bloomberg, to the point that I actively avoid Medium links unless it's an author I know or the comments indicate substantive content.
asdff 4y ago
Ideally they'd be self hosting a blog and make more money than whatever medium lets them have after their fee
- ThunderSizzle 4y ago
  How? Through a membership system or through ads or sponsors? Lots of people hate the ad system, won't pay for an individual blog, and get tired of hearing/seeing thr same 10 generic internet sponsors (nordvpm, express vpn, skillshare, etc.)
  - asdff 4y ago
    Ask for donations. Say you have a blog with a thousand regular users, what do you get maybe $1 for that many views on an ad? One user donating $20 once a month otoh would make you a lot more money per user on average than relying on ads.
vorpalhex 4y ago
If all it wanted was for me to chip in a dollar I wouldn't care. I pay for plenty of substacks. Medium is just painful to use.
- noSyncCloud 4y ago
  And what is it with all these websites that somehow disallow zooming so I can't even see what the diagram is? And why does my browser listen? Is there a browser I can switch to that will always allow zooming? I don't care if it breaks the flow or whatever, I just want to read your diagrams! Not a front-end dev obviously
  - doodlesdev 4y ago
    Yes you can force this in most browsers, generally hidden behind a flag. Be aware it will break websites such as Google Maps and similar stuff.
    - noSyncCloud 4y ago
      Oh awesome, thank you for the education. I'll look into that.
- wrycoder 4y ago
  Five dollars here, five dollars there. It gets expensive.
  - vorpalhex 4y ago
    My rule is that if I spend an hour a week (on average) using a source, they deserve a bit of money. There's a videogame streamer I like. I probably watch 4-8 hours of her content, as she live translates Japanese games while playing them. At $5/mo, that is the cheapest source of entertainment available aside from used books. For blogs I read once a blue moon, I don't typically contribute unless it's worth supporting.

Victerius 4y ago

I enjoy good writing, but the only writing I'm willing to pay for is print books (I just bought a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Fall of Gondolin", the hardcover, illustrated one by HarperCollins). I don't want to pay for newspapers, for investigative journalism, or for long form article magazines like The Atlantic or The New Yorker. Nevermind Medium of all places, because Medium has no barrier of entry. No gatekeeping (and, given how easy it is to merely write a blurb of text, I have rather high standards for what I choose to pay to read). I'd rather consume from the likes of Amazon and have them run these writing platforms (e.g. WaPo) at a loss. Which means I'm paying for writers, in the end, just in a very indirect way. This sits well with me. But if the choice before me was to pay for writers directly (like Medium), or let non-book writers as a profession disappear, I'd opt for the latter. You may criticize this attitude. I assume the responsibility for that and I'm being honest.

echelon 4y ago
I want a world where I pay creators directly.
- landemva 4y ago
  Brave browser allows me to send tips to content creators. I like it. https://support.brave.com/hc/en-us/articles/360021123971-How-do-I-tip-websites-and-Content-Creators-in-Brave-Rewards- https://support.brave.com/hc/en-us/articles/360021123971-How...

bachmeier 4y ago

What you say is true, but that doesn't mean it should be posted to HN. The purpose of this site is to discuss articles. This one's behind a paywall. Even if you sign up for a free account, you may have used up your two free articles per month. That invites people to comment without reading the article. That's not why HN exists. (I actually checked the comments hoping someone posted a copy of the article.)

ThunderSizzle 4y ago
An incognito window is all that is needed for medium. I've seen other pay walls posted in HN that take more to get around.
- andreareina 4y ago
  Medium annoys me far more than e.g. Bloomberg, to the point that I actively avoid Medium links unless it's an author I know or the comments indicate substantive content.

asdff 4y ago

Ideally they'd be self hosting a blog and make more money than whatever medium lets them have after their fee

ThunderSizzle 4y ago
How? Through a membership system or through ads or sponsors? Lots of people hate the ad system, won't pay for an individual blog, and get tired of hearing/seeing thr same 10 generic internet sponsors (nordvpm, express vpn, skillshare, etc.)
- asdff 4y ago
  Ask for donations. Say you have a blog with a thousand regular users, what do you get maybe $1 for that many views on an ad? One user donating $20 once a month otoh would make you a lot more money per user on average than relying on ads.

vorpalhex 4y ago

If all it wanted was for me to chip in a dollar I wouldn't care. I pay for plenty of substacks. Medium is just painful to use.

noSyncCloud 4y ago
And what is it with all these websites that somehow disallow zooming so I can't even see what the diagram is? And why does my browser listen? Is there a browser I can switch to that will always allow zooming? I don't care if it breaks the flow or whatever, I just want to read your diagrams! Not a front-end dev obviously
- doodlesdev 4y ago
  Yes you can force this in most browsers, generally hidden behind a flag. Be aware it will break websites such as Google Maps and similar stuff.
  - noSyncCloud 4y ago
    Oh awesome, thank you for the education. I'll look into that.
wrycoder 4y ago
Five dollars here, five dollars there. It gets expensive.
- vorpalhex 4y ago
  My rule is that if I spend an hour a week (on average) using a source, they deserve a bit of money. There's a videogame streamer I like. I probably watch 4-8 hours of her content, as she live translates Japanese games while playing them. At $5/mo, that is the cheapest source of entertainment available aside from used books. For blogs I read once a blue moon, I don't typically contribute unless it's worth supporting.