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Ask HN: Why did medium.com "fail"?

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Re: Ask HN: Why did medium.com "fail"?

#381

Post by dylan604 »

thepasswordis wrote: post #270
wkat4242 wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think these are not the main pain points. The biggest issue for me is that medium makes me feel like a cash cow. The way it wants me to pay every step of the way, the way it hijacks copy/paste to insert its own marketing. The account it wants me to create. The trackers it inserts everywhere. You missed the step of making something great that people actually feel good about paying for. The grassroots "for users by u…

This is literally it. Especially hijacking copy/paste, or text highlighting. It just brings the entire feeling of the place down. Imagine walking into a nice high end restaurant, and the server tries to sell you a credit card before taking your order. Would you continue going to that restaurant? That's what this sort of garbage does to my sentiment around websites that do it.

>Imagine walking into a nice high end restaurant, and the server tries to sell you a credit card before taking your order.

The first thing I'd think is "how high are the prices that they suggest I need more credit?"

Re: Ask HN: Why did medium.com "fail"?

#382

Post by wkat4242 »

thepasswordis wrote: post #271
wkat4242 wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're on one right now. If that wasn't clear from my post. Also, Reddit still manages ok on this front IMO. The only reason I stopped paying was that they doubled the price when they moved away from gold to whatever it is they call now. Another one is tweakers.net in Holland. Boards.ie in Ireland though I left that country years ago and I don't know how that site is fairing now. Those are the main ones I can think o…

Reddit is doing everything they can to kill it though. It's gone from habitually including site:reddit.com in every google search to actively avoiding it on mobile. I'm not going to install the app. Ever. I will never, ever, ever install reddit's app. No amount of nagging me will ever get me to install it ever.

Good point. I forgot about the incessant app nagging because I use the old mobile interface and I don't really use reddit on mobile that much anymore.

However one of the things I do like is that they don't really interfere with the content. There's some really fringey communities on there like exhibitionists that would be banned by other platforms in 5 minutes because they really don't want to deal with the legal worries and stigmatization. Reddit leaves them alone, the only time they really close communities is when they become toxic.

I'm not a fan of Conde Nast but they could have done a lot worse with Reddit.

Re: Ask HN: Why did medium.com "fail"?

#383

Post by wvenable »

Nifty3929 wrote: post #116
JohnFen wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a big part of it is that users/readers understandably feel that a bait-and-switch has happened. Because it has. I really think the whole idea of "make it free at first, monetize later" is what's broken. If the intention is ultimately to have it generate revenue, the best thing to do is set up the revenue mechanism right from the start.

Well, they can start free, get 1M users, and then try to monetize. Or they can charge up front, get zero users, and then find something else to do with their time.

Right. If they charge up front and get zero users then their business model is wrong.

Re: Ask HN: Why did medium.com "fail"?

#384

Post by dylan604 »

aeyes wrote: post #335
inerte wrote: post #296

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use https://apolloapp.io/ - heck a few weeks ago I realized I used it SO much I paid for it, not because I wanted any of its premium features, just because it has delivered so much value to me I decided to give its author some money.

I use Apollo (paid version) after Alien Blue got unusable and I still have the problem that sometimes links go to the mobile site in a browser within Apollo where I get bombarded with "download the Reddit app". I wouldn't be surprised to see Reddit kill their API in the future.

They're probably sitting back taking notes on the bull in the china shop that is Musk owned Twitter

Re: Ask HN: Why did medium.com "fail"?

#385

Post by julienreszka »

tonystubblebine wrote: post #119

I'm Medium's current CEO as of last July. I actually pay a lot of attention to this sentiment on Hacker News. For example, I've bookmarked and often share this recent HN poll where 88% of people here think there's a negative stigma to a medium article. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33223222 It's sad and entirely our fault. We didn't fail but we did lose our way. Here's how I see it: 1. Lost our way on recommen…

You're clearly out of touch. Are you even paying attention? None of those are the main reasons people hate your website.

Re: Ask HN: Why did medium.com "fail"?

#386

Post by throwaway290 »

p1esk wrote: post #360
throwaway290 wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll interrupt this stream of consensus to note I don't have issues following a link to Medium. Here's how it goes: I open a link, I dismiss a sign-up suggestion screen (if any), I read the stuff, and then I go. If there's a paywall I leave, but I see many more paywalls at links to the Economist or similar sources so what's the big deal? People want to make money. There are low-quality posts but they are plenty on al…

Medium is not Economist.

Point me to where I said "Medium is Economist" or cease.

I can count on my fingers the number of Economist articles I read per year while my history is full of recent Medium visits, mostly related to work so stuff that translates in productivity and earnings. They're not even in the same ballpark.

Re: Ask HN: Why did medium.com "fail"?

#387

Post by chillbill »

tonystubblebine wrote: post #119

I'm Medium's current CEO as of last July. I actually pay a lot of attention to this sentiment on Hacker News. For example, I've bookmarked and often share this recent HN poll where 88% of people here think there's a negative stigma to a medium article. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33223222 It's sad and entirely our fault. We didn't fail but we did lose our way. Here's how I see it: 1. Lost our way on recommen…

I read your previous replies on HN and it seems what you’re doing is more like managing the public image rather than actually listening to what people want.

Medium is still very aggressive data harvesting machine. Look at what sub stack is doing and just do the same, what they’re doing is correct and valuable and what medium had done so far is absolutely full-on reader/writer hostile.

Re: Ask HN: Why did medium.com "fail"?

#388

Post by ericHosick »

tonystubblebine wrote: post #119

I'm Medium's current CEO as of last July. I actually pay a lot of attention to this sentiment on Hacker News. For example, I've bookmarked and often share this recent HN poll where 88% of people here think there's a negative stigma to a medium article. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33223222 It's sad and entirely our fault. We didn't fail but we did lose our way. Here's how I see it: 1. Lost our way on recommen…

Do you know if Medium offers a verification process for authors to demonstrate that their content is not produced by a content mill?

As a Medium member since 2020, I've been writing articles that reflect real-world use cases and require 2-4 days of research and writing. Despite my efforts, I've only had one article boosted on the platform thus far.

It would be incredibly beneficial for creators like myself if Medium offered a verification process to prove our authenticity and help increase the visibility of our work.

Re: Ask HN: Why did medium.com "fail"?

#389

Post by benjaminwootton »

klabb3 wrote: post #364
benjaminwootton wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is still corporate speak. He has posted similar before and been told that the paywall and forced reg is the issue. Then he comes back, doesn’t acknowledge it and gets told the same again. That is not genuine engagement.

How would you do it differently, assuming the same fundamental business model - ie charging users for content. If you don’t run ads, then you have to paywall, no? And if you paywall, you have to register. Isn’t this the same as how Patreon works? I’m not too familiar with these services, but genuinely curious.

Either way, this still gets to the heart of Mediums problem. Why have a conversation about tweaking the recommendation system when there is this elephant in the room about gating content?

If charging for content is their business model then it's fundamentally flawed in my opinion. Why would people give away high quality content and let medium charge for it? It looks like they do have some revenue share programme, but Substack offer a simple and transparent 90% payment in your favour.

Re: Ask HN: Why did medium.com "fail"?

#390

Post by burnished »

sowbug wrote: post #348
burnished wrote: post #346

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people who hate the paywall above all aren't customers, and frankly, being more concerned about that than whether the content behind it is worthwhile at all seems mixed up. I cant blame him for not prioritizing those things - I personally care way more about whether or not clicking a medium link is likely to lead me to something relevant, the rest can be negotiated.

Maybe not customers, but still part of the audience.

Why should you, I, or anyone else care when that part of the audience is solely concerned with how to make the experience bearable for free at the expense of making it genuinely worthwhile? Its not a coherent position.
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