The United Nations General Assembly declared May 3 to be World Press Freedom Day[1][2] or just World Press Day, observed to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression enshrined under Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and marking the anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration, a statement of free press principles put together by African newspaper journalists in Windhoek in 1991. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Press_Freedom_Day
Speechless and ironic. Medium revoked my account from the partner program yesterday, May 3, the World Press Freedom Day.
Yes, that’s how ironic it was. Instead of feeling frustrated or furious, I feel funny and betrayed.
Probably after publishing this article they’ll ban my account as well. Let’s see. If we’re not going to interact on this platform, I will find another one to write and probably we will meet there.
Everything I publish here are original. I write them all by myself. AI doesn’t have a deep mind as I do.
Key points I’m going to make now:
- How did I discover they revoke me from partner program and what did I do afterwards?
- What have I done in the past that could possibly get on their nerves?
- White Terror: Isn’t it a digital white terror? Scary.
- Where does my earning from last month go?
- Medium is against AI writing but supporting banning based on algorithms. Hilarious.
- Where can we write in the future?
- Final words to my readers and fellow writers
#1 How did I discover they revoke me from partner program and what did I do afterwards?
On May 2, after writing my article of that day, when I was about to hit the “Publish” button, I saw I could not paywall that story. I was not in the Partner Program anymore but I could still apply for it. I thought it was their system error so without thinking too much I reapplied to enter the partner program. I got access to the partner program immediately and I paywalled that story as well.
I checked my partner program statistics and could not find my earnings for April. So weird. I didn’t earn much but still I could buy 2 or 3 books with the earning. So I wrote to them explaining what happened. Of course, no response on the same day.
The next day, May 3, my stories were still paywalled. When I finished my article (ironically speaking, I wrote about how Medium ignites my creativity), I couldn’t paywall it again.
I checked my email and they have replied me 30min ago:
Yes, they revoked my access to the Partner Program.
Fine, and they said if I wished to cancel my membership I could do so. Such an attitude of “I don’t care if you are a member or not.”
#2 What have I done in the past?
I wrote all the articles by myself. They are all original. I only use Grammarly to help me check my spelling. That’s it.
I wrote in several articles that I decided to write and publish daily and have stated my reasons for doing so.
In the beginning of April, a Medium member sent me a private note inviting to a Medium writer exchange WhatsApp group. I went there and there were indeed many writers there. They all shared their articles and the others could read for them. With the intension of learning what others are writing about and how to make my articles popular, I read all of them and wrote comments. I indeed read all of them. You might not believe it, but I often do things other people cannot or don’t want to do. That’s how I stand out and a reason why I’m unique.
After a week, I was too tired to read them anymore, so I exited the group.
After that, I only read and clapped for the stories from the writers I follow and the stories Medium recommended. I still commented and clapped a lot and that is simply because their thoughts and knowledge bring me inspirations and my interactions with them are genuine.
I am a serious reader and writer.
I wrote to the Medium team about this “ignorant mistake” I made in the beginning and hope they can give me a second chance. I don’t think they care.
Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future. — Oscar Wilde
#3 White Terror
I went to the profile of several writers on Medium and many of them are also revoked as their stories which were paywalled before are not anymore.
I saw a decline of the number of followers and no one knows why their accounts disappear.
It’s scary.
Medium is a platform for people to write and exchange ideas. What people have here are their intelligent property. How can they simply wipe the most valuable human treasure (the thoughts) away?!
#4 Where does the earnings go?
As I mentioned, I didn’t earn much but I earned some last money. I read somewhere in the FAQ that the earnings from revoked accounts will not be transferred to the writers.
I’m not the only writer who was revoked from the partner program. Where do our earnings go?
The earning calculation logic is based on how many articles a member read and distribute their membership fee to the writers. Would Medium recalculate the earnings of other writers who still stay in the Medium Partner Program?! If not, who are the beneficiaries of this massacre?
#5 Medium is against AI writing but supporting banning based on algorithms.
In some stories here on Medium I read that Medium uses a spam filter to decide which accounts to ban and which to revoke from the partner program.
To be honest, their spam filter is not very efficient. Whoever wants to start a business on developing a better spam filter, reach out to me and let’s discuss.
Hilariously, Medium is against AI generated stories but they rely on the algorithms to make the decision of writers’ fates here.
Where is your human heart, Medium?!
#6 Where can we write in the future?
As I mentioned in several of my previous articles that I really like the writers and readers here. I like most on the platform except the platform itself. It’s too disappointing.
I have been writing for decades but I am new in publishing my work online. If Medium is not reliable, where else can I write? Do you have a recommendation?
How can we as writers and readers feel secure on this platform? Accounts just disappear! That’s scary!
#7 Final words to my readers and fellow writers
I appreciate having you on this platform. To be honest now I even dare not to react to the articles from my fellow writers. Medium’s algorithm cannot differentiate correctly which reactions are genuine and which are not.
I will still read your articles but I will limit my comments, claps and highlights to you.
Anyway, if they ban my account, I wish you all the best and every success in writing, in reading and in everything in life! We are all made of stars.
p.s. I don’t even dare to use Grammarly to check spelling and I’m not in the mood of re-reading this article. Apologize if you find spelling and grammar errors.
