I hate Medium

Anonus

I'm worried it's not rational but I do.

For one thing, it makes its content look kind of self-important, and for another, it's not really customizable software like WordPress is. It's basically proprietary. It's like At Ease, where it's "simple" yet seemingly boxes in its users.

Tatterhood

I mean, I don't completely disagree, but part of the appeal of Medium is that you don't need to set up a proper blog in order to write something and share it around every so often.

Anonus

I'm just thinking of how, like, sites like ThinkProgress and The Ringer are run on it and how it feels like a limited substitute for an actual website

Tre

I think it's trying to fulfill a distinctly different purpose within the scope of blogging, though???? Like, WordPress (the open source one, not WordPress.com) is the software you go to if you want to build your own damn blog with your own damn server, and maybe want to have as much control over your stuff as you can while remaining simple to use.

Medium, on the other hand, has much more of a "just write" sensibility to it, at least with my experience. You don't go there for your stuff to necessarily be unique in look or to really build your own individual brand presence (unless you're like the Awl and moved there from a previous blogging system, or you've always been a publication on the service like Backchannel), but you do use it to write it quick while still making it look nice.

I don't really get this idea that it's self-important, though. It does have a very 2010's design trend feel to it, but I don't think I understand how that's a mark of conceit.

Tre

also my Tiny and Big review is on there and I actually really dig the aesthetic I had going with that one

They killed a few of the features that gave it that look (which I mourned when I ended up writing about ORT) but nevertheless I still like how my newer stuff on there looked

Sredni Vashtar

Honestly, applying adjectives like "self-important" to a blogging platform is like calling a game "smug," yet more so.

Although "makes its content look self-important" is maybe not so absurd, it's still an odd framing.

Anonus

Yeah come to think of it my real quibble is with sites that use it as their platform, not Medium itself

Tatterhood

Anonus said:

Yeah come to think of it my real quibble is with sites that use it as their platform, not Medium itself

Well I think it's a little bit silly when people do that, but I don't see much reason to be really bothered by it.

Tre

Anonus said:

Yeah come to think of it my real quibble is with sites that use it as their platform, not Medium itself

Well, how do you feel about Disqus comments systems on self-hosted blogs like Brand New? Tumblr-based ones (like, longform Tumblrs; they're rare but you can find them if you look)? Are those any better or worse because they're based on proprietary software that, while more open to customization than Medium, share its reliance on the owners of the respective services?

(I'm not meaning to be accusatory here, I'm just legitimately curious as to what specifically spurred your distaste. )

Anonus

Disqus doesn't feel like a substitute for a website to me. It's just an add-on.

I don't know, I'd feel weird handing over the keys to my entire platform to Medium.