Back in August of 2021 Medium updated its terms that allowed people to join the partner program. Upon reading them I thought that these sounded reasonable and set me a good challenge to go after as someone who had recently just joined the platform. However, I realised this was not a widely shared view.

Looking at my feed I saw an outcry of writers thinking the rule change was unfair. I have one question for those people,

I'm sorry Karen but how is it?

This new rule is great as it deters people from those who just want to do it for money and those who actually enjoy the craft.

Gone are the days where you have to work people feel entitled to earn money for their poorly written blogs. We now have is that we have a platform of impatient babies who can't do a month or two of consistent writing to naturally gain those 100 followers.

As a result, you'll inevitably have seen the posts on your feeds, "let's help each other", "help me get 100", "help me help you".

Utter nonsense.

It's a quick cash grab from bigger writers or an attempt from people with smaller audiences to get a dopamine hit and get some easy followers. This is so dangerous because, in reality, it helps no one.

So what if you get your 100 followers? None of them like your work, they followed you simply because you commented on their follow-for-follow post, they'll never read your work. And is losing your dignity worth the $0.14 you'll get when you actually join the partner program this way.

The solution?

Work your way up properly. Be intentional and genuine with your follows, comments, and claps. Write for the love of it, not the money, it will come if you stay consistent. Medium is a long game, not a quick cash grab.