So right. One can choose to stay or choose to leave. It isn't necessary to demean what doesn't suit you, simply because once it did. It is even less necessary and certainly ungrateful and selfish to demean it on the basis that one no longer receives the financial return that one once did.
Yes, I accept that Medium is a profit-making venture and that it makes its profits from the work of those who contribute. Some of the best work may come from professional writers of those who write consistently attractive stories or those who are best able to decipher and manipulate the algorithm that determines rewards, that is true. However, there are many novice, tyro, or casual, (in the sense that they don't bombard the platform with material), writers who also produce excellent content and, as such, display their worth and gain a chance to build a following - and their own confidence.
Many, if not most, of those 'lesser', ( in terms of previous or current financial rewards, not necessarily their competence), write because they genuinely have an attachment to writing and a desire to share not only their product but the reactions from those who read it.
Medium, is a platform that provides that opportunity for an affordable cost and, or so it seem to me, with largely a set of contributors who value such efforts and are willing to share back.
I value those people and their work, regardless of how I react to it. So, for me, right now, I value Medium and will continue to contribute, if my offerings are considered as such. I have little to no self worth so the only way I can obtain what is, hopefully, disinterested opinions on what I write - and the thought behind it - is from the comments that people like and whether the 'likes' indicate that it has been read and valued.
Regularly, perhaps because of my lack of confidence or because something I've written and submitted has received little or no response or simply platitudinous praise, I am on the verge of ceasing to post. Thankfully, so far, I have not done so for writing helps me to express myself, order my thoughts and share what I feel about all manner of issues affecting our world. - However, the main reason I continue is that before I take that final step, almost inevitably I receive some generous and considered response that lifts me and allows me to feel, at least for a little time, that I, or at least what I have produced, is valued by someone I've never met and may never know beyond what their own work may tell me.
That, is enough to maintain my support for this platform, despite the most I have ever earned from it in a month being around $15 and a usual return being a couple of dollars. You see, I don't measure my worth in money but in what I seek to give and the value that others place on it. That's why I'm here.
