Harry, I don't write for income, though as a low income pensioner, a little extra is always helpful. My belief is that you don't write for income, either but choose to distribute at least some of whatever you 'earn' to other writers.

I say 'earn' in the preceding paragraph because since discovering your work, I have recognised that you must put much time and effort into contributing to medium.

No, I am not voicing platitudinous or trite praise, nor have I ever received any incentive to compliment you.

The reality is that I tend to read as diligently as I can and to respect those who write by making honest comment about what I feel about their posts. I know that not all can accept this. However, although I have sometimes made strong challenge or criticism to what you have written, I have never found it to be without interest nor to appear motivated by anything other than honest views from where you sit.

Although it hasn't been a long time, I have also always found you willing to consider critical comment and respond to it in a balanced way.

For these reasons, I find it difficult to accept that you have tried to 'buy a following'. Indeed, I would see this as far more likely to be a tactic of click-baiters. Either way, I also question where the crime is in attempting to build a following. Surely, most writers who publish desire to see their work read widely and appreciated, don't they?

I have only a modest following of a few hundred and one built slowly but steadily. It pleases me and I am proud of it. I had a following of over 6000 on LinkedIn but left the platform because it seemed to have degenerated from its original 'professional orientation' to one of discussion more in the vein of Twitter, now of course, 'X'. I had a following of 2000 on Twitter and left because of the appallingly low standard and abusive nature of so many posts. I subsequently rejoiced for a short time. My first post after was responded to by two abusive men who mocked me because, after rejoining, I only had 2 followers.

I haven't met that sort of simple-minded attitude on Medium, though on rare occasion I have found something to close to it .

My instinct is to feel that there is absolutely nothing wrong with attempting to build a following and that Medium ought to be pleased when it happens. After all, without its contributors and their readers, there is no profit for Medium and hence, likely no medium.

So, this move confuses me. It sounds to be poor judgment to me, on the part of Medium. It also appears to me to have been implemented without consultation with the contributors to the platform.

I may, perhaps, be wrong about that but from the amount of unrest I read in the posts of others, I think I may be right on the mark.

Surely, although the owners can, effectively do what they wish, it would be far better if they had an open and transparent discussion policy to discuss any significant change with writers before implementing such changes.

Surely, for it to really succeed both for Medium owners and Medium contributors, there must be open and transparent communication and perhaps even joint decision making?

Yes, I may be naive. I tend to agree, despite having too often discovered the negative to be the result, in Hemingway's dictum that: "“The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.” and Dylan's trusim that: "Money doesn't talk, it swear." I think both are apposite in this case.

Also apposite, I think, is advice that a good man but one for whom I was not particular fond and wasn't without several failings. I offer it because it is at the core of how I attempt to live and what I believe to be a pertinent truth: In paraphrase: "What one gets gives on a living, what one gives gets one a life." (Winston Churchill)

I wonder - to what degree does Medium give as compared with its contributors?

Thank you, Harry, for your presence and all the encouragement and entertainment that you have given to others. I regret for you what's happened. I appreciate Medium having allowed me a voice without requiring a payment I couldn't afford. I also appreciate that it has allowed me to experience a wide range of writers whom, otherwise, I would likely never have found.

I can only will that those who make these decisions, sooner or later, reach the conclusion that it would be better to make them in agreement with those who provide their content, for if they do not, I doubt the platform will survive, at least not in a palatable format for many.

Take care. Stay safe. ☮️