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Five stages of (Medium) grief

CorkscrewAnnie
4 min readJan 14, 2025

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As usual, this month there is a LOT of discussion on Medium about the current state of the platform.

Cartoon full of thought bubbles, with a row of brightly coloured human symbols below.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Of course, the state of Medium is ALWAYS a favorite topic on this platform.

These days, the lack of payouts seems to be the main point of contention for Medium writers. At least, the miniscule, negligible amounts received by people who are used to receiving more.

And, as is the style of this lovely community, there is a lot of sympathy and empathy going around. This post by Roz Warren, and the related comments, are terrific examples.

There are also a number of useful analogies cited: the Medium writer as a jilted lover, or the platform as a deceitful partner that has ghosted us, gone radio silent.

For what it’s worth, I’m going through the five stages of grief. First it was:

DENIAL

Black and white photo of a toddler with his hands over his eyes
Image from Pixabay

I got a healthy payout in December, one of the largest I’d ever received, and promptly went and spent it on a large coffee. (Easy come, easy go?) So at first, I thought the plethora of concerns being raised by my fellow writers was a matter of chance. Surely they’d have another good month in…

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CorkscrewAnnie
CorkscrewAnnie

Written by CorkscrewAnnie

Recreational writer, collector of antique corkscrews, urban gardener and retired management consultant. Still trying to figure out what to do when I grow up.

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