> Medium provides nothing of value to me as a consumer.
The value is that it's providing a platform to authors who want a platform where they know they'll get readers. I personally don't choose to use Medium anymore, but it's very easy to get people to read your content on there. In the past I've used places like Wordpress, Blogger, my own webpages, etc., and it took a lot more effort to get people to see your content. Whereas on Medium, it didn't take long to get people to look at my content. Few things I wrote went into a black hole.
> I say this as someone that pays for about a dozen online newspaper/magazine subscriptions but will never pay a penny to access a site like Medium or Scribd or Quora or any other site that does nothing but make money off being the middle man.
They make money by being a platform to voices you might not otherwise hear because newspapers and magazines pick and choose a small set of authors to write most of their content. If that's not your cup of tea, then it's not your cup of tea.
I choose not to use Medium as an author, but I understand why people choose to publish on it and why some people would choose to pay for it.
> Anyway, it’s all moot as Medium will inevitably shutter or pivot.
Like every other business conceivably?
> If those views are killed off by requiring a paywall, then Medium itself becomes defunct.
Is that actually happening?