"As a writer, the biggest potential waste of your time is not typography chores, but Medium itself. Because in return for that snazzy design, Medium needs you to relinquish control of how your work gets to readers."
Amen. Finally, someone has put this simply. The issue here has nothing to do with type. The author does a pretty good job of pointing out why Medium's pandering to design is clearly B.S. — but most importantly it's a complete ruse. It's a distraction from the fact that they own you.
Edit: If you'd like to downvote my viewpoint, I'd appreciate that you offer some kind of insight into why.
It's a distraction from the fact that they own you.
No they don't.
They don't own the work you choose to publish through their platform in any way whatsoever. By publishing it there you give them permission to use it[1], but no ownership of it. They have absolutely no claim on you, your future work, your past work, or any benefit you might receive from publishing with them. You can delete a story after you've published it, and you can publish it unlisted so it won't appear in any listings or publications on their site.
If you believe that's the same as owning you then you have a very strange definition of "owning you".
I suspect he was thinking of the older version [1] - I know that's the only one I'd even seen until you posted this link. The wording of the original is much more draconian, though [to my non-lawyer mind] it appears to say the same thing now, just much more politely.
It's a distraction from the fact that they own you.
1) Many people do not care to maintain a blog
2) Many people do not plan on writing regularly; maybe once every three months may even be a miracle, in which case a shared platform is preferable.
3) Writing on your own blog is like building your own restaurant in the desert instead of a strip mall, it will take a lot to get people to find it.
4) Sometimes you just want to share something, and you just do not feel like having your own blog is necessary for it.
5) Many who claim that Medium will own their content do not end up writing anything, hence their ideas, which could be truly beneficial to society, end up dying as a distant memory.
1) So what? Does that mean that Medium is the best choice out there? I fail to see the connection.
2) Some car owners only drive once every few weeks yet still own a car instead of renting one. Don't make simplistic assumptions. There are benefits in ownership even for casual users.
3) Ever heard of Social Media ? Word of Mouth ? If you have good content, you will get linked, re-linked, and bookmarked.
4) See 1.
5) "Many" ? Who ? Where ? If anyone is serious about sharing their ideas, they can do it in multiple forms. You can write a book, you can do a presentation in front of folks, you can join a club - a blog is only one way of sharing stuff, not the ultimately most efficient one, depending on what you are passionate about.
I agree with all 5. My main point is simply that not as many people as you may believe care about owning their content. Truth is it will benefit them more on a shared platform.
I have never used Medium, and most likely never will, but I would love a Medium built inside HN. That, I would use.
What do you mean exactly by "Medium built inside HN"? Something for long-form writing that's a part of HN? Or a Medium-like service built by people associated with HN?
Amen. Finally, someone has put this simply. The issue here has nothing to do with type. The author does a pretty good job of pointing out why Medium's pandering to design is clearly B.S. — but most importantly it's a complete ruse. It's a distraction from the fact that they own you.
Edit: If you'd like to downvote my viewpoint, I'd appreciate that you offer some kind of insight into why.