Help Me, I Am Puzzled

How Medium promotes inequality and segregation

Did it ever occur to you how Medium, a platform presenting itself as an inclusive place where words matter, created an environment that inevitably led to emergence of segregated caste community?

The emphasis is on the word inclusive.

I guess, no one can argue that Medium promotes progressive ideas, inclusion being one of them. I say, kudos Medium! We need more spaces like this, and obviously Medium is not wrong to tout this fact about itself.

However, with the introduction of Stripe powered Medium Partner Program and payed membership, the community looks something like this:

• paying members publishing through the MPP with access to all articles
• paying members publishing outside the MPP with access to all articles
• non-paying members publishing through the MPP with access only to free articles (+3 freebies a month)
• non-paying members publishing outside the MPP with access only to free articles (+3 freebies a month)
• paying and non-paying members who publish outside the MPP just because the Stripe service is not accessible in their region
• paying members, who only read, with access to all articles
• non-paying members, who only read, with access only to free articles (+3 freebies a month)

A complete mess.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see the various castes. What surprises me, however, is that very few people gave this concept a second thought.

I mean — how can one promote social justice, inclusion, etc. and don’t reject such system (and I don’t mean to leave, even though I suspect, Medium staff would be happy if “freeloaders” went away)?

But it’s like bashing Jeff Bezos while selling and buying things on Amazon.

Alright, I get it — times are hard and every little penny helps to create that fabled “profitable hour”. Or so they say.

Well, to be honest, an average Joe like me would cry, “Hypocrisy!!!” Buddha would probably blame ignorance, and Jesus would just roll his eyes, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”

This is not to bash Medium or its users, it’s just a food for thought for you to see in real time what money, value, and profit inevitably do to society.