Could this be Why Medium is Screwing Up Your Earnings?

Somebody's got to pay for all their darn mistakes!

Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

Ask just about any writer you encounter, who still writes on the Medium platform, and they’ll tell you something over there is really fishy.

It’s nothing new, nor is it a secret, no matter how much gaslighting goes on.

In fact, the problem is so obvious and visible to the naked eye, I refuse to debate whether or not a problem truly exists.

Anyone who doesn’t see it already, probably won’t be convinced anyway, so I’ll just move onto the real topic of this post.

I believe Medium is screwing up on how current earnings are being payed, all because of the previous mistakes they keep making in the past.

Questionable “features” and policies have all managed to come back and bite them in the ass. From the Boost Program, to the Friends of Medium incentive, they keep screwing around with earnings and not truly in a good way.

I’m usually among the first writers to be vocal when things start to go south, but I’m also level headed enough to play it cool, and watch for signs of positive change.

Some writers may not agree, but based on what I’ve seen in the past, I believe that change on Medium is coming again, and the way they deal with compensation, will eventually take a turn for the better.

I say this, not because it always does, in one way or another — even if it doesn’t last for very long.

But the main reason I make this prediction, is because it’s crystal clear to me and anyone else who’s following along, that the current situation is not sustainable.

Whatever metrics that Medium is using these days, when it comes to compensating writers, is clearly not going to help the platform grow. As a matter-of-fact, if they continue at this rate, it’s only going to make the website fold, unless it morphs into another kind of platform entirely.

Allow me to share what I think is currently happening with earnings and why, and see if you don’t agree that I might be onto something with this line of reasoning.

The way I see it the BIGGEST problems Medium is currently having, involves the inability to fairly compensate writers and their non-meta stories, due to the following:

• The new rule about meta stories is making it difficult to parse which stories “about Medium” count as meta and should remain behind the paywall

• The majority of niche writers, with lots of stories affected by the new meta policy, have refrained from manually removing stories from behind the paywall

• Medium has no program or procedure in place, to do a global removal of meta stories that continue to remain behind the paywall

Honestly, the above three lines of reasoning are merely assumptions on my part, but what I’m about to point out below, is based in fact (or at least in logic).

Let’s consider a few more very valid points, that amount to more than just some old lady’s conspiracy theory.

What’s happening with Medium related stories

If you’re a Medium writer, trying to examine your stats and earnings these days, nothing seems to make sense at all.

I have a hard time understanding the numbers and the logic to the numbers, especially for the Medium related stories.

With no less than 1,000 meta stories to get around to fixing, naturally lots of them are still behind the paywall.

From what I can tell, they’re still earning 2 to 3 cents from time to time, just like the non-meta stories that revolve around various different themes.

Wondering how that’s even possible to do, is what led me to the line of reasoning that I share below.

✅ HERE’S THE LOGIC:

Publishing Medium stories that are NOT behind the paywall, amounts to the same things as readers using a “Friend Link” for paywalled stories.

However…

✅ HERE’S THE FACT:

According to Medium’s existing policy regarding friend links, they actually help contribute to a member’s earnings.

Here is the most current information about the policy, which you can find available on their FAQ page:

My sensible conclusion

Would you like to know the sensible conclusion that I’ve come to, based on common sense, logic, and the published facts about compensation from friend links?

I think Medium has made a huge mess for themselves, because now they have to: Create a more concrete definition of meta content, design a program to identify meta stories, and remove meta stories from behind the paywall, and stop relying on writers to do it.

Personally, I suspect there’s something else…

Due to the policy about friend links contributing to story earnings, could it be possible that meta stories that are not behind the paywall are still managing to earn somehow?

Not only do I believe that this is the case, I also believe that the only way Medium can currently offset what they’re being forced to do (pay meta stories), is to cheat on the overall earnings for the entire community.

What do you think? Doesn’t this sound like a plausible reason why Medium could be screwing up all our earnings?

At the present time, Medium is clearly going through some things right now, and they’re still trying to work things out. But in the meantime, and in between time, you can do yourself a favor and familiarize yourself with some of the beneficial features, that they just might end up enhancing later.

Let’s take a good hard look at how you and your existing stories can benefit from friend links, even apart from the monetary value.

This content is NO LONGER AVAILABLE ON MEDIUM, so make sure you read it here.