It came about some other way. Essentially I have been vocal and outspoken for many years about what does and doesn’t work on the platform - but I have also been a champion of new writers and consistent in my views.

Without getting all conspiracy theory about it - Medium staff are everywhere. They’re reading. They’re definitely reading more than most people think. If they make changes then they want to see the results of these changes in real time.

So I wasn’t hauled to head office for a telling off, I was invited - primarily to share my perspective on how Medium can avoid becoming a series of echo chambers all in engaged in a civil war. It was a shock - it came out of the blue because I haven’t had any contact with medium staff since 2018 (back when pieces were elevated to a shared homepage).

It suggests, to me at least, there is a new generation of staff under a different mandate. One which is participative and geared around getting direct and indirect feedback. It’s working. I’ve been here a long time and this is the most decentralised and writer friendly the place has ever been.