Tag Archives: Medium

Medium Offers Buyouts to its Editorial Team

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Ev Williams, CEO of Medium, announced that there will be changes made to Medium’s editorial strategy and leadership. Employees of Medium are being given a voluntary exit option if they “would like to take a different path”.

…I want to give an option to those who would rather get off this crazy ride. To that end, we’re offering to everyone in editorial a voluntary separation program (VSP). What this means is that they can choose to leave the company and receive a lump sum of payment of five month’s salary to give a buffer to find their next job. (We will also cover six months of health benefits.) Again, this is voluntary and applies to everyone in the editorial organization…

As a writer who occasionally posts things on Medium, I find this interesting. It is good that Medium is giving the editors who choose to leave the platform five months of salary and six months of health benefits. That should make it easier for them to find new jobs.

The Medium post by Ev Williams provides detailed background information that led up to the decision to let the editors go. In 2019, Medium decided to create their own publications. The first one that was launched was called OneZero (which is about tech and science). Medium launched seven magazine-style publications within the next nine months.

According to Ev Williams, commissioning stories from professional writers into publications “worked less well” than hoped. It wasn’t because the writing wasn’t good. The problem was that the Medium subscriber base grew – but the publication’s audiences did not.

One part of the article sticks with me. “Trust is more important than ever and well-established editorial brands still have meaning. But today, credibility and affinity are primarily built by people – individual voices – rather than brands. In fact, that describes the vast majority of what people read on Medium, and is in line with our Relational strategy.”

To me, it sounds like Medium might be gearing up to compete with Substack, Twitter’s Revue, and whatever Facebook is calling its newsletter option. As someone who occasionally posts articles on Medium, I am curious to find out what changes will come.

Medium’s Rules Make Their Website Welcoming

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Medium logoMedium has become one of the many websites that has created rules that are intended to help make their site a welcoming place for everyone. Medium explains: “Some parts of the Internet lack rules. This isn’t one of them.”

They also summarize their rules as “Don’t pee in the pool (metaphorically).” Considering that Medium is a website where writers share their work, it seems fitting that their rules include some creative descriptions. There are several things listed under the header “Things You Shouldn’t Do”, (and I suggest you read their list for full details).

Here are some of the things that you shouldn’t do at Medium:

Don’t threaten violence against anyone. A second rule says: “Don’t post anything relating to minors that is sexual or violent. Don’t bully or harass minors.

Don’t use hateful slurs. Medium reserves the right to take down hateful slurs, “which tend to silence others while adding little if anything”.

Medium will not tolerate bullying, harassment, public shaming, or posing private or confidential information about others on Medium. That includes posts that shame specific individuals (including images or altered images), and posts with altered or unaltered copies of private communications posted without the explicit consent of a party to the communication.

It also includes posts with non-public, personal information intended to target, blackmail, or harass people. You are also not allowed to post repeated personally insulting notes, responses, story requests, or writer requests on Medium.

In short, Medium has made it very clear they will not allow people to use their site as a means to harass or publicly shame someone else. The rules also state that you cannot post intimate or explicit images taken or posted without the subject’s explicit consent (including revenge porn).

Medium will not allow porn of any kind. Their rule on that says: “No porn. There are other places to post it. You know where they are.”

Another rule states: “Don’t post content that violates others’ privacy, including personally identifying or confidential information like credit card numbers, social security numbers, or non-public contact information. To me, this rule is saying “no doxxing allowed.”

These are just a few of the rules that Medium has created. It’s nice to see them be a part of the growing list of websites that have put rules in place that will make their website a safer, more welcoming, space for everyone.