I had the following experience recently.
I published a number of pieces on Medium recently with the intent on improving the craft and the industry of software development.
These pieces includes two essays which had more than my usual [ahem, 0, number of readers]:
What’s wrong with software development? I am technical debt
What’s wrong with software development? The Testing Mole
I was flattered by any applause and readership they got, but, more importantly, I hoped it would inspire folks in the software engineering community to take a hard look at the craft to see if we can work out some of the bugs, collectively.
Then: codeburst.io picked my pieces for publication. I clicked through the windows to the “Accept the terms” button and: nothing happened.
Medium, that is confusing to an author.
Look, I’m not getting paid much by Medium to provide content to them. I opted for my pieces to be in codeburst.io for free [no payment] because I sincerely wanted my pieces to reach the right audience, something I’d need a lot of hard work and even potentially connections to do so in a paid-for publication.
Their solution, which still allowed use of the “Add to publication” button by codeburst.io but did nothing when I, the author, accepted the terms to have my pieces added, was very frustrating.
In order to illustrate how frustrating, I’m going to include a scrubbed version of the correspondence which resulted with Medium’s “user happiness” team when I asked them why my accepting codeburst.io’s terms didn’t work — I filed it as the bug it looked like it was to me.
There is a new message on your ticket:
(Medium Support)
Jan 30, 3:12 PM PST
Hi,
Yep. What you’re seeing is (or was) a bug, but we recently fixed it so it should be all straightened out for the future.
Let us know if you are still experiencing issues.
Thanks!
[Medium Support]
User Happiness
Jan 31 (3 days ago)
to Medium
Hi
I tried again to accept codeburst’s invitations to publish my stories, but it didn’t work again through the form.
How can I accept codebursts’ invitations?
I’d like my stories accepted by them.
Also, please do fix this feature. it is a good one, when it works
Regards,
Me
Medium SupportJan 31 (3 days ago)
to me
##- Please type your reply above this line -##
There is a new message on your ticket:
(Medium Support)
Jan 31, 1:36 PM PST
I apologize for the delay. Additionally, I didn’t understand your initial bug.
What is happening when you try to submit the story to the publication?
Add draft or post to publication
Jan 31 (3 days ago)
to Medium
Hi
The button clicks but nothing happens except maybe some lines at the top of the screen move.
I don’t think the pieces get dropped for codeburst, even though I’m clicking the button.
Medium Support
Jan 31 (3 days ago)
to me
There is a new message on your ticket:
(Medium Support)
Jan 31, 2:03 PM PST
What post are you trying to submit? Are you doing it through the email, or through the website?
This email is a service from Medium Support. Visit our Help Center for more info.
Jan 31 (3 days ago)
to Medium
Medium Support, I received two emails from Codeburst. [forwarded]
They are inviting me to publish my articles through them. I get the email invites.
I click : Respond to this request.
Inline image 1
It takes me to another website: https://medium.com/...
I click Accept terms and request
Inline image 2
I see green stripes race across the top of the webpage when I click it, but nothing happens. My stories are still in my stories on Medium, and I don’t see any indication they are now in codeburst.
There is no message through email or onscreen to confirm they were published on codeburst.
Jan 31 (3 days ago)
to me
There is a new message on your ticket:
(Medium Support)
Jan 31, 3:10 PM PST
Hi,
At this time, you can’t add locked stories to publications which are not part of the Partner Program. To be eligible for monetization they need to be independent of the publication.
That publication is not part of the Partner Program, so you will need to unlock it from the program to submit to their publication.
If you have any further questions, please let us know.
Thanks,
Medium Support
User Happiness
………
Aaaand here we go:
Medium and Ev Williams, I support publications like Code Like A Girl that are working to amplify the voices of everyday people to inform, teach, and support Medium readers.
Please do not remove the ability of publications to request content.
Please work with publications to make joining publications easy for both writers and publications.
Please work with publications to make it easier for them to communicate with their writers in a way that doesn’t require them to leave your platform.
