I think this piece in fact makes a very good point very eloquently, John, and highlights one of the key failings in Medium's misguided notions of 'curation', or 'quality content distribution'.
Namely that readers are drawn to the voice and style of an author, rather than a need to walk away from a formulaically structured essay with an actionable life lesson delivered by a certified subject expert.
Which is precisely the Substack model - you attach yourself to an author and their voice, trust in them to write pieces that will delight and entertain, whether they are reminiscing about football in days gone by, recounting a walk in the woods, or explaining some aspect of their professional experience.
Long before the earnings meltdown, my gripe about Medium was that it pressured people -as high school examiners do - to write in a checkbox manner, and furthermore to discard their ideas unless they could back them up with explicit academic or professional credentials.
This took the joy out of writing for me. Sure, I could just have continued to write more wide-ranging, 'random' blog-style posts, as I did in my early days here a couple of years ago. But once you have been presented with a system that says 'this is good, we will pay money for and promote this', and 'this is worthless - we will dispose of it in the memory hole', it feels painful to choose to write in the latter character.
The curators marking our homework as nominators and writers leave a bad taste in the mouth.
On Substack, if I fail to gain a readership, that will be entirely on me - I'm happier with that outcome.
I don't expect to make any money there directly, but feel that ultimately I will have a more rewarding experience.
If Medium were still operating when I retire in 12 years' time (hugely unlikely - I'm not sure I'd give it more than 12 months before a firesale to a rival platform), and offering the same financial rewards as in early/mid-2024, I would return, to top up my pension with a little side gig here.
Right now, I don't see that the platform has much of value to offer me, except to run my pub for as long as other contributors still wish to write.
