Recently, I’ve been seeing a lot of articles in my feed complaining about what other people write about on Medium. This baffles me.
In it’s essence, Medium is a writing medium,and — although it’s a privately run entity — it’s open to all. This is a key aspect of Medium’s core business model and mission statement.
The More the Merrier
Variety is the spice of life, and much like our founding fathers over here in the US of A, I imagine the founders of Medium knew that individuals on their platform should have the freedom to express themselves and bounce new ideas off of one another. After all, there’s nothing greater than the exchange of great ideas.
Freedom to Seek Knowledge
Right now, there are very few restrictions on what people can write on the platform.
If I so wanted, I could write about all the different flavors of cotton candy available to buy in my city. I could go on to explain why I thought which variations were better than others, and which flavors weren’t that great.
By posting my opinions on Medium, I make them available to other people who want to learn about cotton candy and who are actively searching for that information.
Maybe they pick up fragments of new information from every article they read about cotton candy. It’s their right to seek out that information if they want to.
Censorship?
But what about all the writers on Medium that don’t like cotton candy? In fact, maybe they hate it. Maybe they are only interested in writing and don’t want to read about food.
Well then, what should we do? Should we demonetize them because their cotton candy stories keep showing up in the little “For You” section belonging to these writers? Should these types of stories be banned altogether?
No.
For all that is sane in the world, NO.
Reality Check
Look, I don’t know about you, but I don’t write on Medium just so other writers on Medium can read my articles.
I write on Medium because it is one of the largest platforms on the internet that let’s me share my interests with the world, monetized or not.
I like to write about real estate and finance. I realize I’m not everyone’s cup of tea, but those who don’t agree with my subjects shouldn’t expect me to conform to their interests. That’s just plain wrong.
Likewise, if you don’t like something, DON’T CLICK ON IT! Those articles only show up in your feed because the algorithm recognizes that you’ve read similar articles in the past. You are actually the one creating the very problem you are complaining about.
So, stop complaining.
Start taking accountability for your own actions.
And finally, let other creative people be creative on their own terms without fear or judgment.
Oh Hey, It’s Ray is a real estate investor, entrepreneur, and former real estate agent. She lives happily with her husband and two children in the Pacific Northwest. See more from Ray at her YouTube channel and on Ohheyitsray.com