I'm in my 31st month on Medium. The departure of The Atlantic has raised one of my eyebrows. But all the other changes were only signs of a business trying to find its business matrix.

About half the popular writers on Medium deserve their popularity. The other half do not. There are many writers who deserve more popularity than they are getting.

Many writers here are competent. But do they have that edge to be great? I have to chuckle at the competent writers who believe they have been shortchanged with their talents and hard work. I guess when they compare themselves to those popular writers who don't deserve to be popular, maybe there is some shortchanging. But the smart people at Medium are making the decisions that help pay the bills.

As far as 50m subscribers paying their $52 just to read, I think that's a fairy tale. I wouldn't be here just to read and pay $52.

Medium is catering to the amateur writer. They are the prime readers of all the articles. Here is my listicle of Medium writers:

https://medium.com/tiered-democratic-governance/listicle-of-medium-writers-4da0dcef4b11

My traction has gone down the past couple of months. I used to get 40 views per article. Now it is about 10.

Maybe readers (not-writers) are indeed leaving.