Why I’ve Stopped Writing On Medium
Hey everybody.
Long time no talk!
After writing 1,000+ blog posts on Medium since 2016, I’ve nearly forgotten how to write one.
That’s because I’ve stopped writing here.
Here’s my writing output this year broken down by month:
January: 17 articles
February: 17 articles
March: 18 articles
April: 5 articles
May: 2 articles
June: 1 article
I’m not the only one who’s taken a major step back.
Michael Thompson, Medium O.G. and all-around great guy wrote his last article here in April. Nik Göke, Medium legend with 88K followers stopped writing here in January.
All of Medium’s best writers seem to have left.
I don’t know why Michael or Nik left Medium, but I know why I did.
Here’s 3 big reasons..
1. The Algorithm Is Absolutely Awful
In 2019/2020, I was averaging about 150,000 views per month here.
It seemed to be the golden age of Medium. There were a plethora of publications to choose from and the quality of content being produced was unmatched.
Then everything changed when the fire nation attacked.
In late 2020, October to be exact, many Medium writers felt a huge disturbance in the force.
Articles started getting 50–60% of their typical reach. To make sure it wasn’t just me, I checked with other writers and they all said the same thing.
It didn’t end there.
Reach slowly dove off a cliff for me over the next year. It was a slow and steady death — so perhaps that’s why I continued writing here.
I spoke to some people who were well connected at Medium and they told me that apparently the engineers completely f*cked the algorithm up to the point that they didn’t even know how to fix it.
I don’t know if that’s true, but it makes a lot of sense.
Since summer 2021, Medium’s cannonball into the pool of obscurity gained speed. Publications like P.S. I Love You , The Ascent, and The Post-Grad Survival Guide all disappeared from the platform within months.
These pubs were staples of Medium and as much a part of its identity as air-bending was to Aang in the Last Avatar.
They defined Medium in a way. And Medium allowed them to walk, cutting off financial support and throwing them to the side like a used chicken wing bone.
If you asked me, that’s when the real death of this platform happened.
When they refused to keep supporting the publications that had been here since the beginning.
It’s like Medium chopped of it’s own arms or something, but instead of screaming out in agony, Medium kept stumbling forward like the zombie platform that it was, completely unaware of how dead it became.
When I look back on this dark history, I can’t help but reminisce on how great Medium used to be.
I won’t get into the details, but trust me, as someone who’s been writing here since 2016, it was WAY better 4–5 years ago.
So yeah, Medium is a zombie. Although it still sleepwalks its way through the corridors of the internet, it’s really as dead as a doornail.
2. The People Here Are Insufferable
Bro.
Bruh.
I’m sorry, I can’t read one more article about how the whole world is f*cked and we’re steamrolling towards economic, political, and environmental disaster.
I can’t read one more ridiculous hit piece on Elon Musk that a millennial wrote from the spare bedroom in their parents’ house.
I can’t keep reading articles written by middle-aged women who made boatloads of money on Medium complaining about the patriarchy, privilege, and self-help bros.
Go complain to the mother and son I see at stoplights here in Mexico juggling in between green lights for tips about how unfair YOUR world was in 2020 when you made 6 figures writing words online.
Miss me with that bullshit.
I’ve seen way too much to keep giving these people my time.
In reality they’re even more self-obsessed than the Tim Denning’s of the world who they love to attack, but that’s a topic for a whole other article.
Drama wins on this platform. People gravitate towards it like moths to a lightbulb. And since Medium is smaller than you think, drama between two writers quickly becomes the talk of the town.
I’m done with that shit.
3. The Reach Is Way Better Elsewhere
Hey LinkedIn!
This is a platform everybody on Medium seems to hate these days.
They say it’s because the writers there are insufferable..
But, psssttttt, it’s really because it’s better than Medium. 😉
I spend all my time on LinkedIn these days. Since summer last year, I completely changed my business model to a LinkedIn-centered focus.
And it’s basically where I spend all my time today.
I used to rely on sales funnels and email lists to make money.
Not anymore.
I use LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator and DM’s to win business. I’ve made some $10,000 over the last two months with my method. It’s way better, honestly, and I can teach you how to make ridiculous money with your business on LinkedIn if you want…
Look. I’m sorry Medium. We got way better options these days bruh.
That’s why I’ve stopped writing here as well. I just get more bang for my buck elsewhere.
Spoiler Alert: Turns out that when you nuke your own platform and give the middle finger to the creators that made your platform so great, they leave.
Who knew!!!
In reality, Medium deserves exactly what it’s getting. All the best writers left. All the best publications left. And now all that remains are articles complaining about the bullshit in the world written from a stark liberal perspective with no differing perspectives.
Medium turned into Reddit.
I guess I’ll end with one final metaphor. Medium used to be like a warm feast in a castle with many tables of people drinking, eating, and enjoying their time. Now it’s an empty banquet hall that white walkers seemed to have swarmed into. 😆
It’s dead.
I’m tired of pretending it’s not dead.
That’s all.
