Medium’s 100 Follower Policy

On February 15th, I received an email from Medium notifying me I’d be removed from the Medium Partner Program for having less than 100 followers. I was grandfathered in for a while, but this notice gave me 15 days to comply. I did not.

I’ve politely sent my $5 check each month for close to 5 years. The Medium Staff has made many changes over those 5 years. Many for the better. While I understand the business need for this change, I feel a little betrayed and unappreciated.

I didn’t make all that much money from the program. This isn’t going to prevent any food from reaching my table. I wasn’t trying to build a following or make a lucrative side hustle. I just wanted to share some thoughts with the world and see what transpired.

I use Medium predominantly for curated reading. I’m generally good for reading a couple stories a day. Most of the time, they come from my daily digest email. Sean Kernan and Tim Denning seem to find their way into my inbox fairly often. Early on, a story about a grandfather by Dan Moore caught and held my attention with the platform. I’ve found Daniel Williams, who makes me laugh with his stories and illustrations. Gammons Thome has been a sane voice of classic baseball thinking in the midst of a horrifying lockout.

In all, I only follow 67 people, and some of them are extinct at this point. That number has moved up very slowly. I’ve found that being ultra-selective has kept my recommendations more relevant. I could follow a bunch of people in hopes they’d follow me back. Instead, it is probably time for me to go extinct as well.