Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Medium raises $25 million

recode.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 92 posts

Re: Medium raises $25 million

#31

Post by benihana »

state wrote: post #3

I guess this is the direct counter-argument to my comment in the thread about Svtle. Is it true that people actually don't care about keeping ownership over their content? I find it so strange that these services which are pitched directly at people who consider themselves to be brilliant also become the archive for your stuff. It just seems like a conflict of interest when, yes, what exactly is their game plan?

I think people are much less interested in owning the content than they are in having their content promoted. The end goal seems to be internet fame, not having a huge archive of content. When viewed in that light, it makes more sense why people are doing what they're doing.

Re: Medium raises $25 million

#32

Post by steveklabnik »

state wrote: post #3

I guess this is the direct counter-argument to my comment in the thread about Svtle. Is it true that people actually don't care about keeping ownership over their content? I find it so strange that these services which are pitched directly at people who consider themselves to be brilliant also become the archive for your stuff. It just seems like a conflict of interest when, yes, what exactly is their game plan?

> Is it true that people actually don't care about keeping ownership over their content?

Sometimes, it can be good for things. Take parody, for instance. My favorite Medium collection is "CSS Perverts"[1], which is basically really silly, fake articles about programming stuff. Sample article: "How Node.js will replace JavaScript."

Because it's on Medium, people are more willing to believe that Jenn is serious, and so she gets confused readers[2], people who are actually quite upset[3], and serious rebuttals[4].

It's one of my favorite things on the internet right now.

1: https://medium.com/cool-code-pal

2: https://medium.com/cool-code-pal/cf72b588b1b#ad4c-7315e80e40...

3: https://twitter.com/jennschiffer/status/424683365980069888/p...

4: https://medium.com/p/5133e7296592

Re: Medium raises $25 million

#33

Post by drawkbox »

state wrote: post #3

I guess this is the direct counter-argument to my comment in the thread about Svtle. Is it true that people actually don't care about keeping ownership over their content? I find it so strange that these services which are pitched directly at people who consider themselves to be brilliant also become the archive for your stuff. It just seems like a conflict of interest when, yes, what exactly is their game plan?

I agree writers should have more of an ownership stake but think of writers at large newspapers, journalists etc. Even though they are writing for the brand they are also building their brand. So in a way Medium, Svbtle, etc are all new magazines or papers that are a chance to get noticed more. The smart brand aware writers will use it as another draw. It is a bit like a new 'guest post' combined with writing an article for a third party.

But is ev getting rich again off your content a third time? Yes he is a smart man.

Re: Medium raises $25 million

#35

Post by dasil003 »

untog wrote: post #28
lowglow wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Hacker News comments don't require the blood, sweat, and tears involved in writing a 1,000-word well-edited essay. Some people do take the time to write well thought out replies. > Hacker News comments aren't used by the owning website for potential profit. I'm going to disagree. HN profits GREATLY from your participation. > Y Combinator as a brand is likely hurt by HN comments anyways Not likely. Comments from an…

"The HN crowd" has become an online meme for man-child Silicon Valley programmers. So I'd say there is at least a danger of that overflowing to perceptions of YC - just not for anyone YC probably cares about.

Really? My perception is that "the HN crowd" is known for being pedantic know-it-alls criticizing every minute detail of anything. "Man-child" seems much more Slashdot/Reddit/Digg/4chan plus the rest of the internet.

Re: Medium raises $25 million

#36

Post by rfnslyr »

untog wrote: post #30
choarham wrote: post #29

So, you can type text into a box and people can comment on it. And it has a nice font. My startup idea is that we sell chairs, but the chairs are nicer than some other chairs and they say 'chair' on them. Can I get $25 million too?

So, you can type text into a box and people can comment on it. Like Facebook, and Twitter, and all those other sites that are clearly and obviously different from each other and come on you're trolling aren't you please tell me you're trolling

I think it's disgusting that such a crap product with no real revenue stream got $25 million. Makes me sick.

Re: Medium raises $25 million

#37

Post by misiti3780 »

untog wrote: post #27
misiti3780 wrote: post #12

I think mediums UI is nice, but as far as i can tell, you cant include code snippets so its almost useless for blogging about programming - until the change that, I am going to continue to use jekyll.

I don't think programmers (writing about code) are Medium's main target market.

i understand that, but ostracizing a group of people that are probably some of their core users right now (tech community) seems stupid - adding the feature would be very easy

Re: Medium raises $25 million

#38

Post by ThomPete »

eob wrote: post #8
state wrote: post #3

I guess this is the direct counter-argument to my comment in the thread about Svtle. Is it true that people actually don't care about keeping ownership over their content? I find it so strange that these services which are pitched directly at people who consider themselves to be brilliant also become the archive for your stuff. It just seems like a conflict of interest when, yes, what exactly is their game plan?

It's a distribution / curation thing, like writing an Op-Ed for a magazine instead of publishing it on your blog. Either way you get the word out, but by ceding control to the magazine you gain access to a wider audience, unless you are in the 1% of bloggers who are a destination themselves (like daringfireball.com). Even Krugman "blogs" via the NYT instead of on his own domain. Both ways are valuable, of course. Jus…

The comparison doesn't hold up quite IMHO.

NYT curates much more and so if you manage to get accepted you are more likely to be read.

The same as far as I understand is not true for Medium. I have an account there and I am no Krugman.

Re: Medium raises $25 million

#39

Post by uloweb »

choarham wrote: post #29

So, you can type text into a box and people can comment on it. And it has a nice font. My startup idea is that we sell chairs, but the chairs are nicer than some other chairs and they say 'chair' on them. Can I get $25 million too?

Yes, but only if you already have the successful experience with, for example, sofas.

Re: Medium raises $25 million

#40

Post by js2 »

seeingfurther wrote: post #17

Why would a billionaire, proven operator and executor raise a round?

Which raises the question: Why is Williams taking outside capital at all?

Williams, in an interview earlier this week, cited a few reasons: As Medium scales, taking money from multiple investors is a signal of long-term thinking and diversification to the company’s employees; and the more parties that have a stake in Medium outside of Williams, the more they have a stake in the company’s success.

Post reply on HN