A $£¥ Suggestion
I don’t want your money*
July 2017 — the original piece (important updates follow below)
There are people on Medium who ask for donations to support their work, their writing, their life. I’m not one of them. For this reason even more than for technical ones, I won’t be joining the Partnership Program.
However, some of my friends are. If you would ever have considered donating to me, please seek out someone whose work I’ve hearted, clapped or otherwise favoured, and donate to them instead. That will make three people happy and the world a better place. And you might get to read something you would not otherwise have read, thus doubling whatever pleasure you got from me. You might want to add a donation to the other writer on their own merits. Win-win-win-win-win!
If you want to read more of mine, I maintain (albeit late and sometimes badly) an index here:
March 2019: update 2
This supersedes the PN-and-email procedure described in update 1 below. It only took me nine months to figure out how to simplify the idea…
July 2018: update 1
“I won’t be joining the Partnership Program”, I said, demonstrating that you should never make promises for yourself that depend on someone else. To explain:
Members-only stories not only have the potential to earn money for their author; they also get more promotion (even if “more” here means “slightly more than none at all”). I joined the Partnership Program and experimented with this, and lo! it seems to be true. If I want people to read my stuff, I have to be willing to charge them for the privilege. That hardly seems fair, does it?
Actually, it does seem entirely fair, but that’s not the point.
Following my experiment, I made a suggestion that Medium has sort-of implemented as Friend Links. Essentially it’s a best-of-both situation: Members still pay, painlessly, to read, while non-Members can have free access if the author gives it to them.
S̶o̶,̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶’̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶n̶o̶n̶-̶M̶e̶m̶b̶e̶r̶ ̶w̶h̶o̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶c̶h̶a̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶m̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶l̶i̶k̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶a̶n̶y̶ ̶h̶y̶p̶o̶t̶h̶e̶t̶i̶c̶a̶l̶ ̶M̶e̶m̶b̶e̶r̶s̶-̶o̶n̶l̶y̶ ̶s̶t̶o̶r̶y̶ ̶I̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶p̶u̶b̶l̶i̶s̶h̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶f̶u̶t̶u̶r̶e̶,̶ ̶t̶e̶l̶l̶ ̶m̶e̶ ̶a̶n̶ ̶e̶m̶a̶i̶l̶ ̶a̶d̶d̶r̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶(̶v̶i̶a̶ ̶P̶N̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶e̶x̶t̶r̶e̶m̶e̶ ̶c̶l̶e̶v̶e̶r̶n̶e̶s̶s̶)̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶I̶’̶l̶l̶ ̶a̶d̶d̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶m̶y̶ ̶l̶i̶s̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶L̶i̶n̶k̶e̶d̶ ̶F̶r̶i̶e̶n̶d̶s̶ ̶(̶e̶v̶e̶n̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶I̶ ̶d̶o̶n̶’̶t̶ ̶k̶n̶o̶w̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶.̶ ̶I̶’̶m̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶p̶r̶e̶c̶i̶o̶u̶s̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶)̶.̶ ̶T̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶i̶f̶/̶w̶h̶e̶n̶e̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶I̶ ̶d̶o̶ ̶p̶u̶b̶l̶i̶s̶h̶ ̶s̶u̶c̶h̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶t̶o̶r̶y̶,̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶e̶v̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶s̶u̶c̶h̶ ̶o̶c̶c̶a̶s̶i̶o̶n̶,̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶r̶e̶c̶e̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶a̶ ̶f̶r̶e̶e̶ ̶p̶a̶s̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶i̶t̶.̶ ̶I̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶’̶t̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶m̶i̶s̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶w̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶k̶ ̶-̶ ̶a̶g̶a̶i̶n̶,̶ ̶n̶e̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶m̶a̶k̶e̶ ̶p̶r̶o̶m̶i̶s̶e̶s̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶s̶e̶l̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶d̶e̶p̶e̶n̶d̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶e̶l̶s̶e̶ ̶-̶ ̶b̶u̶t̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶s̶e̶e̶m̶s̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶t̶h̶ ̶t̶r̶y̶i̶n̶g̶.̶
And if you’re a Member who wishes to direct cashflow to people who need it more than I do, give them more claps than you give me. It’s that simple.
*for myself
*Update — If my Medium earnings ever amount to a worthwhile sum, it will go to a good cause
