Member-only story
Another Casualty of Medium’s Spam Filter
Why does this keep happening?
If you noticed that my account disappeared briefly today, I promise it’s not just because I randomly decided to delete my account. Much to my chagrin, I’d been caught up in Medium’s now infamous spam filter.
In some ways, I’d been waiting for this for quite a while. Over the past several months, probably close to half of the writer’s I read regularly have had their accounts wrongfully suspended. If it could happen to them, I knew it could happen to me.
That doesn’t make it any less frustrating, though, especially for those of us who rely on our income from Medium. It’s also irritating considering the number of actually problematic accounts on Medium that seem to escape suspension.
I will say, to Medium’s credit, the appeal process was very easy and they responded surprisingly quickly. They explained that I had mistakenly been caught in the spam filter, and moments later, my account was restored.
Still, it’s caused me to consider more seriously an anxiety I’ve had for some time: is Medium truly a reliable home for my writing (and source of income)? It seems real writers are consistently getting suspended while AI and spam accounts are proliferating like crazy, and that makes me worry.
I do love the community I’ve found on Medium, and that’s what’s kept me here. But going into the new year, I do feel like I need to reassess some things. I doubt I’ll disappear completely, but I may reduce the frequency of my writing here to explore some other options.
Please share your thoughts in the comments. I’d like to get some other perspectives on this issue and hear your experiences with suspension, if you’ve had any.
