Hi John, your exceptionally well-articulated story deeply resonated with me so it deserves a long and caring response. You touched on all key points, and I will extend them to support your grand theories. As the comment interface is terrible, I will turn this into an extended comment version so that readers can read it like an article, and it serves as a supportive artifact of your outstanding tale.
You managed to attract the CEO to your great story. Kudos! Sadly, his message on your piece clearly captures Medium’s current state—denial. Once more, it reflects, no acknowledgment despite overwhelming evidence, no transparency, no apology for the damage and broken trust, but just the blame game again. Based on my 40+ years of leadership experience, these are red flags for poor leadership and management.
That said, I have deep compassion for Tony — some things may well be beyond his control. Medium is a black box; no one truly knows what it is or how it’s run. I’ve spent over six years analyzing it with substantial data, yet I’m still in the dark. We’re all just speculating, and your framing of this as a classic game is pure genius.
You posed the metaphorical question, ‘Who killed Medium?’ While the answer is complex, the final blow came from Scott’s desperate message — written just half an hour after I published a community bulletin in response to over 4,000 inquiries. His reply to my story was kind and friendly, as was mine. But his viral bulletin on the Medium blog felt unreviewed by the CEO or anyone who understands audience psychology. Though subtly worded, it blatantly labeled authentic writers as spammers, justifying the drastic earnings cut.
He later admitted they had slightly ‘tweaked’ the algo to address the fraudulent activity, but the change was glaring—writer earnings were slashed by about 90%. They improved it slightly, but according to data shared with me by those smarter than I am, the payouts are still shockingly low. It was my reason to post my farewell story, clearly pointing out that until Medium addresses this unfair situation, I will not contribute to the platform meaningfully, meaning that I will not post my premium content once loved by thousands of paying members. Sadly, Scott or someone from Medium censored my supportive and trending comment which depicted the true picture of Medium leadership in managing their audience. Here is my comment hidden from Scott’s post now:
In my farewell story, Brittany, Medium’s Chief of Staff, left a thoughtful comment urging patience — a promising sign of leadership. After that, I transparently shared my own stats with the support team, which mirrored the experiences of thousands of other writers. For instance, a story that once earned around $700 for sa imilar impact now brings in just $7. I highlighted this stark contrast and asked support to escalate the issue to leadership as constructive feedback. Three weeks later, still no response.
I understand they’re busy, and I don’t envy Medium’s hardworking employees. But the real issue isn’t the workload — it’s the refusal to acknowledge the problem. Tony has now adopted that same denial, when a simple admission could have helped with damage control.
From my perspective, Medium isn’t dead yet — it’s in a coma. And with great leadership, it can still be saved. It’s not too late. I even laid out the formula in my farewell story. Everyone — including leadership experts — seems to understand it. Everyone, except Medium’s leadership.
Once again, Tony’s response to your story misses the mark. As far as I know, no authentic writer wants Medium to fail. Everyone wants this great platform and its vibrant community to thrive. Yet, instead of supporting its writers, Medium is waging war against them — and we all know who will lose this needless battle.
Most writers and readers here aren’t naive — they’re the very people who made this platform great. If they start leaving, Medium will be reduced to just another forgettable website.
I’ll be turning this long comment into an editorial bulletin later, as new concerns have started troubling me and my editorial team.
John, thank you for writing this story so beautifully — you’ve clearly captured the key issues. I also appreciate your kind mention.
Please feel free to link my farewell story, as the comments section paints an unfiltered picture of what’s really happening. Most of the comments there come from fellow allies of Medium like myself — I’ve removed all the spam and scam ones. Here’s the link:
