If I may ask, no more posting from one’s website as my co-travelers and I were made to believe?
Where Is the Missing Link?
Are you aware that Medium has a number of foot soldiers in the background representing the Platform at different fronts and directions? The painful aspect is that they’re armed with divergent instructions and incentives without no guarantee to back them up. To make matters worse, these folks make the whole thing more confusing even to the die-hard Medium’s followers. Just have to stop moving the goalpost.
Medium’s Children or Foot soldiers
Of course, Medium has a long list of foot soldiers who constantly change the goalposts. Likewise, these microcells have their own terms and conditions which surprisingly they lay at the altar of Medium. The list includes LEVEL, ZORA, MARKER, ELEMENTAL, GEN, ONEZERO, FORGE, HUMAN PARTS, THE BOLD ITALICS, and MOMENTUM, among others.
Moreover, these children of Medium go on singing discordant songs, thereby confusing writers the more. Well, before Medium’s management kicks my butt or (should I say ass, or better still, yansh— as we call it in my village,) out of their platform, I better speak out or close my mouth forever. After all, we live in a world of you speak, you die. You don’t speak, you die. My choice becomes not only to speak but also shout out loud.
What broke the camel’s back or better still, what got me angry is what I consider as greed and the nonchalant attitude they carry it out. But no love is lost for them, and I hope they reconsider their stand.
You know, gone are the days (the stone age where I belong) when a good introduction, four or more paragraphs, and a terrific conclusion, was enough and good to go!
The American Greed?
Today, there are too many contradictions. Frequently, you’ll come across advice like write for your readers, not for yourself or for the machine. Uh oh! Do you forget that the machine (algorithm does the rankings and everything else)?
At the end of all the sweating, you get rewarded with some pennies/cents! Typical of (my in-laws)American greed? I remember vividly when I was giving a card of $5 as an award for good performance from a very popular chain store where I worked year past (name withheld to save them the embarrassment).
What of a dear pastor who also gave me $5 (wow, folks like giving gifts of 5 bucks!), and that because I helped in the church during the Trunk or Treats—the common denominator here of 5 bucks I don’t think it was a mere coincidence but a patter and a sign of greed—honestly, I wasn’t expecting anything in return, in the case of the church. I think there’s something about this that is uniquely American! Doesn’t it suffice to write an appreciation note (for the former) and send an email message for the latter instead? Or was there an ulterior motive behind this? If not, why should Medium of all people, send me a $0.004 (four-cent) as my earning for the month of June?
When a Gift Can Become an Insult
You see, from the receiver’s point of view, a gift can become an insult or even a curse. If you consider who the giver of the five bucks gift was, you will see a clear picture of the whole thing. And you would start asking yourself some questions like, if a “nobody” like me won’t give a miserable gift of this amount to somebody, would that not be questionable when an institution does it? So, in short, to me, it’s nothing else than an insult.
The Big Mouth Foot Soldier
Yet one of Medium’s lieutenants—again name withheld—now I don’t know if I’m violating some of their rules. But before they kick my ass or butt or better still, as they say in my village, yansh out of here (I better leave that to you my precious reader for you to choose, since I write for you).
In all honesty, that gesture was not good enough. But you know what? As opposed to discouraging me, it ignited my passion for action. Little did I know the next challenge was just around the corner. To earn $1000, I was committed to writing twelve articles per month. In the process of writing eight out of twelve articles, I came across the strange “small letters.” I noticed that the same person who offered $1,000 for the twelve articles linked them to a number of claps, clicks, and followers! Yeah, twelve articles for $1,000 indeed! Reason why the goalpost should be intact!
As for the lady’s warning about those who are soliciting followers, claps, and whatnot from different social media platforms to stop, I don’t think she has any right to do so. Though I’m not taking her warning personally I wonder what’s wrong with that when one goes out in full force to bring the mountain to shore, if only that would get them to the “promised land.” I think that is unfair. She should stop that before I call her out. It’s likened to pulling the ladder off others feet after she had already claimed up there, huh?
Before I end this writeup, let me quickly thank all my followers: