There are finer points that may be of relevance to you directly, but the list above will give you a fair indication of the relationship you’ve signed up for. Again, these are facts and whilst Medium may be able to justify some of them, they remain facts. Facts that negatively impact both your safety and your ability to earn on the platform.

It’s the original question I raised. What would you require of a person before you handed over control of your financial wellbeing to them? At the very least, they would need to show an interest in your wellbeing.

Takeaways

What were the direct consequences of having our account suspended? Quite a few and aside from the obvious frustration and uncertainty, for us the biggest issue revolves around credibility.

We’ve recently invested a large amount of time into our new medical publication, BeingWell. The timing of its launch was co-incidental with the pandemic and not related, but we saw it as an opportunity to present clear, unbiased and reliable information to the public written by medical professionals. This publication matters to me as I am a part of this profession, for those of you who may not be aware of it.

Credibility is key to a publication of this nature for obvious reasons. At the point Medium chose to flag our account, two articles from the publication, curated by Medium, were trending with thousands of views.

For the next 15 hours, readers were presented with the following message when trying to access these articles.

This account is under investigation or was found in violation of the Medium Rules

Not really helpful in terms of establishing a trustworthy reputation. Also, it would seem, a clear killer for traffic. In the two days since the suspension was lifted, both articles have received around a 100 views.

As an aside, and I know that writers will see the irony, whilst suspended we had access to the account. The article that triggered the alert and I’ll link to it below, was frozen for the duration with 0 Reads and 0 Views. An hour after the suspension kicked in the article was marked ‘Not Distributed’.

Apparently not everything was suspended.

We’re more fortunate than most. Our publications will be housed on our own server in the next few weeks, under our own control. We will continue to duplicate material and reproduce it on Medium for as long as Medium allows us to do so.

In other words, we will reduce our dependence on Medium. It’s not ideal, nor what we had originally planned, but we’ve met the stranger and decided that until he proves himself a reliable partner, we’re not going to entrust him with keys.

Not just yet. Hopefully, this changes. I’m actually rooting for Medium, believe it or not. I believe they will outgrow the trap they’ve fallen into of seeing themselves as a broader form of Twitter. They aren’t. Their relationship with their ‘employees’ matters.

It is very easy to forget the terms of the relationship you have with Medium. When you awake to its harsh reality, it may be too late and the experience may cost you more than a few followers. It may cost you your income and possibly your livelihood.

I would strongly encourage you to asses your current relationship and make a decision about how you proceed, armed with the facts. If you are dependent on Medium, take steps to diversify your income. Look to platforms like Substack and Vocal as options.

In terms of your ability, do not doubt yourself.

If people have paid to read your content on Medium, there is no doubt that other people will pay for the same privilege. Engage with printed media and online magazines.

It takes more work and you can expect rejection, but you’ve proven your material is worthy of payment. Don’t forget this simple fact.

I am not recommending you leave Medium. Let’s be clear about that. I am simply encouraging you to add a few more baskets to your repertoire.

Spread your eggs. That way, if you wake one day to find one of your baskets is gone, it won’t be crippling.