My comment for Buster on this update is the same as the response I sent to CEO Tony after he replied to my message about earnings dropping 60-90%: numbers don't lie and follow the data instead of replying with distractions and obfuscation instead of addressing my data points:
"As an angel investor in a dozen tech startups I've dealt with many tech CEOs. What counts are honesty, transparency, clarity and numbers. I hope your explanation for a 90% drop in earnings on the same articles before and after the transition will provide these.
By ceasing to pay by hours read Medium penalizes long form writers of research-intensive journalism with fewer readers with long attention spans.
I have several articles with reader engagement that straddles the before and after the changeover date. The numbers do not lie. I made screenshots documenting the 80-90% (or more) drop in my earnings. Though the amounts are chump change, it's about fair play and contempt vs respect for my efforts.
Some of the numbers:
https://medium.com/me/stats/post/9635f3c02b7a
https://medium.com/me/stats/post/97224daa545a
From 4.68 for 2h35m and 3.64 for 2h6m to .07 for 43m and .40 for 2h6m.
These numbers are like a double blind clinical trial, the same articles before and after the transition.
Please explain why I should accept a 90% drop in earnings from THE SAME ARTICLE with views and reader time before and after the transition. I just published my first article in August. 76/15 views/reads in a day. I expect that in a week it should reach the 361/115 views/reads of my last July article, but with earnings 80-90% less than the 31.50 of my last July article. Please explain why I should continue to write on Medium when this happens.
At Twitter we've seen how hubris destroyed one tech platform. I sincerely hope you don't follow that example."
My diagnosis: Medium's owners and investors who have poured $160m into it since inception told Tony to get to break even since there will be no new funding. The only way to get there: cut costs by slashing writers' earnings and open up an MLM-type subscription generator in 33 more countries. Many of these countries are awash in "nothing is true and everything is possible" Russian-fed hybrid disinformation warfare, which will make Medium's content moderation like the Chinese curse: "may you live in interesting times". My research and fact-based articles on the Russia-Ukraine war regularly get trolled like this:
"WISHFUL THINKING BY A BLOODY LATVIAN FASCIST. GET YOUR ASS OFF YOUR ARMCHAIR AND GO AND FIGHT THE RUSSIANS IN UKRAINE. MAYBE YOU WILL BLEED TO DEATH BY RUSSIAN ARTILLERY OF BURNT ALIVE BY RUSSIAN ‘TOS’ FLAME THROWERS!!"
I, and Medium, should plan on getting lots more of this.
This growth strategy is like feeding the house's furniture into the fire to stay warm. It won't end well.
