That’s because I loved the irony of writing against paywalls on a paywalled site. Anyway, it also struck me that if all disgruntled writers leave quietly, Medium will continue its non-inclusive policy of avoiding paying writers from poorer countries. So I wrote a couple of posts about that issue, and was surprised by the amount of comments I received. That’s when realised that I was speaking for a lot of writers who were upset at being exploited by Medium. They have been quietly accepting it, probably because they didn’t have the time or inclination to protest. Whereas I don’t mind shooting off an occasional post, so why not?

There’s another aspect to it. Medium has not censored my series of posts though they are critical of the platform. I appreciate that, but also find it challenging. It’s almost like Medium is daring me to find the key to unlock their ‘non-inclusive payment policy’ puzzle. I don’t like unsolved puzzles. So every now and then I try a new angle to crack it, with Medium’s paywall being my last one. This morning, I got the beginnings of another thought when I read about Facebook being fined $5 billion for violating user privacy (its stock shot up!) Why has no one fined Medium for its non-inclusive payment policy? If I can figure out the who, why and how, this might turn out interesting.

I’m also looking out for alternatives to Medium, and have some options which I need to explore. Setting up my own independent blog may be the practical way forward. But to do that, one has to do more than just writing, and that is a bit of a mindblock which I will need to address sooner or later.