Why the the fuck people still write on Medium even though it prevents people from reading content after a few times without either paying or logging in is beyond me.
But I hate even more that this is the top most comment on hn, even though you admit to not even having read the article and clearly don’t know what it’s about.
Sorry, I know this comment is OT as well…
Not to accuse anybody here of being small minded, but I think the point is relevant. Instagram transitioning from a photo sharing social network to a marketing catalog pretending to be organic content is an event, but it's only a single social network. The larger trend of the internet transitioning from individual home pages to walled garden social networks that then push hidden marketing over actual substance is a much larger concern that is going on, and the posters point about the irony of using Medium to complain about the issue is spot on and I'd argue relevant to the real conversation, which is how interesting, quality, quirky self-published content of the internet has been replaced by walled gardens showing you want their algorithm wants you to see.
How is it clear to you? I got the context from other comments... My point was not about the content of the article specifically, but more about the obliviousness of this (and many other) authors. It's like criticizing running an Alexa because it's like bugging your house while, at the same time, using Google's or Apple's thing. Total whoosh!
What's silly here is that you felt the need to reply on my comment as well, knowing that yours is not related to the original topic. Do you not see this as mildly duplicitous?
medium.com##div[data-test-id="post-sidebar"]
medium.com##.branch-journeys-top:upward(2)
medium.com##div[id^="lo-highlight-meter"]
medium.com##+js(aeld, scroll)
medium.com##+js(aeld, touchstart)
If discoverability is lacking there's quite a few aggregate platforms that can boost readership / visibility of your site, but always publishing on your own site first!
Otherwise, substack seems to have a better business model imo. I wouldn't use it myself because I don't trust them to stay as they are when/if they corner the market, but for the time being I think Substack is what Medium pretends to be/
I don't think this is fair or accurate.
Authors are choosing to put their articles behind Medium's paywall because they want to get paid. So when you see a paywall that's the author's choice. It's not any different than a Substack newsletter other than scale. So to say Medium is preventing people from reading... it's really that Medium is home for a lot of writers who want to get paid for their work and probably wouldn't even have written the piece you are trying to read without that incentive.
Then this Skymall article isn't even behind the paywall and doesn't have any sort of block on it or login wall. Or am I seeing something different than you? I tested it while not logged in.
FWIW, there is a ton of great writing on Medium even if there is also a lot of trash. For example, I helped port the full back catalog of books from The Pragmatic Programmers over to Medium. Those are great and it's great to have easy access to all of them.
https://arnuldondata.medium.com/julia-and-the-reincarnation-...
Also, isn't the best thing about HN comments when you get comments from someone with actual knowledge? I can't imagine there is anyone on HN who knows more about Medium than I do.
People feed the beast and then wonder why it's come back for more.
They do however use analytics, like any other platform that wishes to quantify engagement and provide value to their content creators.