The First and Probably LAST Medium-Meta Piece I’ll Ever Write
A bit of navel-gazing on why meta articles are being excluded from earnings
I’m not one who writes meta pieces. I have never published anything about my stats, following or earnings. I’ve also never posted how-to advice for Medium writers, though I’ve certainly expressed such in comments. But recent rule changes to this platform have spurred me to write this little ditty.
Members of the community are up in arms over Tony Stubblebine's recent announcement that meta pieces can no longer be included behind Medium's paywall. In case you're not keeping up, meta refers to articles for & about the platform itself. Translation: You write about Medium, you doan get no moolah. It's a decision which has sparked much controversy and members are still in the dark with regard to specific details. Even so, I side with Medium's position on the matter and I understand why they've excluded such articles from Partner Program earnings.
Imagine you walk into an art gallery expecting to enjoy the creative works on display. But interspersed between the paintings & sketches, you find the walls are peppered with artists' self-promos, spreadsheets, how-tos and editorials. There are instructions for oil painting, receipts showing how much artists were paid, hacks for making artwork more sellable and insider critique about the gallery owner's policies. That material might interest other aspiring creators, but it detracts from the gallery's true purpose which is to showcase actual art.
If patrons found such extraneous, non-artistic items prominently displayed, my guess is they probably wouldn't return to that gallery. Plus, the more visitors who are diverted by that materialistic, internal flotsam, the less exposure for the creators genuinely devoted to their craft. That, I believe, illustrates the point Medium is trying to drive home.
But I believe there’s another explanation behind Medium’s latest targeting of meta which may have escaped some members. Tons of writers have bemoaned the decline in their earnings, yet few can cite a single, causative reason. I may be off here, but I blame it on those abusing the system-- the calculated manipulation by a small but determined group of opportunistic hacks. They’ve spotted the loopholes and have gone full-bore to take advantage. Their weapons-- AI writing and engagement rings... and not the diamond kind.
The perpetrators are using multiple & duplicate accounts to highlight, clap and post phony comments which skews the algorithm in their favor. It gives the appearance of many reads & lots of reader engagement, but it's all a sham. Does anybody really believe that a newbie writer with under 30 followers posting a 2-minute blurb about acne could generate more than 20 comments within hours? Or that a bland, humdrum 200-word article about chia seeds would rack up 400+ claps in just one day? Results like that are a clear indicator that they're rigging the game... the fix is in.
To their credit, Medium has made positive efforts to address that abuse. A big portion of those shakedown artists are/were posting meta articles, in part I believe, as a means to advertise & report on their own crooked scheme. So it’s no coincidence that Medium singled out the meta niche for the chop.
So will excluding meta articles help curtail those greedy hucksters? I think so... or at least, I hope so. Any effort toward eliminating the grift, even one that’s unpopular with honest Medium members, should be implemented. The guidelines outlawing AI-written pieces helped a bit, along with Medium’s including an AI violation on their Report form. But I’ve already seen evidence many are no longer relying on AI to generate their stale fluff pieces. So it’s the engagement ring that’s the best telltale sign for identifying these bad actors.
Most members are anticipating a change in earnings during March, though that may only be wishful thinking. The cheaters are a determined bunch who continually find ways to evade the rules. Once suspended or deleted, they quickly regroup and pop up again under new identities. But one way (perhaps the only way) we can help is to report those violations every time we find one. Report the articles, the author and the fake engagement in comments. Report them like your livelihood depended on it, because it does. That may just be a bandaid on a major hemorrhage, but I’m not giving up without a fight.
