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I Want To Publicly Apologize To Tony
You were right, and far more kind than I gave you credit for
I started this account near the end of Medium’s Wild West days, when f4f and r4r were the law of the land. Not according to the rules, technically, but many of us were trying to ride the line between them. To be in the MPP (and get paid for reads), writers needed 100 followers — which is a low bar when compared with YouTube’s monetization program. And writers banded together to support each other to get that 100; most of them without hesitation.
Only a few die-hards got passionate enough to argue against the idea of “supporting your fellow writers.” Most writers conceded that supporting each other with a follow was ok in theory. The practice on its own seemed harmless. Besides, being considered “unsupportive” just sounded bad.
Early in, I put that behavior to good use and created the “Follower To Follower” series. As I found and followed others, I tagged them in an article. Three or four times a week, I sent out these articles, believing (truly and seriously) that it was well within the rules to help bring these people together. My grand design wasn’t one of greed or malice. The ‘follower’ angle was just the entrance; long-term, I had hoped to create a community of writers supporting and helping other writers.
At some point, Medium got wind of this shortly after Tony Stubblebine became CEO. He visited one of my follower-themed articles and advised me that things were changing. Medium would be cracking down on f4f, r4r, and other ‘inauthentic’ engagements.
Of course, I disagreed with that view. Inauthentic? I cared about every writer I came across. The goal was support and community, after all. Time and again, I stated in no uncertain terms that reads should be real, and comments should be thoughtful. Empty gestures didn’t make a community.
Even if Follower To Follower stopped, the idea that people weren’t allowed to show their support by following other writers seemed restrictive. Many of my peers were outraged at the idea, stating plainly, “They have no right to control who I follow!”
And they were right. Ultimately, though, it wasn’t Medium proper that brought down the hammer on that practice. It was other…
