With the motto, "Words Matter," publishing platform Medium has positioned itself as a place where thoughtful content trumps merely attention-getting content. It had to find a way to pay contributors, however, and monetize its own business. Williams says that his company wants to subvert the typical "Attention = Money" paradigm of most online sites and create a system that rewards "conscious choice" rather than reactive rubbernecking.

"By eschewing ads," he wrote, referring to the ad-free subscription service, "we remove conflicts between serving our readers and serving those paying the bills." It's a pretty big idea, and whether it's a naive take on internet publishing or self-centered virtue signaling, opening up to anyone who wants to publish on the service and get paid for it (if they can manage to get the right number of "claps") could be the start of a new way to fund thoughtful, interesting content.