30 comments

  • Cihad TurhanCihad Turhan, almost 9 years ago

    My #1 rule:

    Never ever trade Privacy for UX.

    19 points
  • Adrian StanAdrian Stan, almost 9 years ago

    F### Medium then!

    There are other blogging platforms. I'm tired of Google searching "design site:medium.com" and putting a 24hours search filter anyway. 99% of all their blog posts in the last months are utterly 100 words maximum dog poo anyway.

    14 points
    • Catalin CimpanuCatalin Cimpanu, almost 9 years ago

      No RSS, no easy way to find content, no content categorization, and now this privacy intrusion like we "need" them and their content, not the other way around.

      I'm with you on the Google Search... there's no other way outside that to find recent stories.

      4 points
      • Artem TitoulenkoArtem Titoulenko, almost 9 years ago

        Have you tried exploring Collections? Sounds like the kind of content organization you might be looking for. Also you can follow the design and ux collections and get lots of great posts.

        0 points
    • Neil GajeraNeil Gajera, almost 9 years ago (edited almost 9 years ago )

      Agree! I don't like quality of the articles published on Medium either (except for their magazine called "Matter"), but why would you do a google search since there already is a search function in Medium?

      Hint: Click on the Medium logo (M) to reveal a search option. Also, you don't need to be logged in to do so.

      1 point
    • Tim GauthierTim Gauthier, almost 9 years ago

      medium isn't a blogging platform. it is a publishing platform for medium to long length articles. If people could stop posting their crappy blog posts that would be great!

      0 points
  • Andrew PairmanAndrew Pairman, almost 9 years ago (edited almost 9 years ago )

    Am I wrong in thinking that DNT is simply a request and not a rule? Just because you have it enabled it doesn't mean that websites have to obey it?

    Quoted from Google Chrome's DNT settings:

    You can include a "Do Not Track" request with your browsing traffic. However, the effect depends on whether a website responds to the request and how the request is interpreted. For example, some websites may respond to this request by showing you ads that aren't based on other websites you've visited. Many websites will still collect and use your browsing data - for example to improve security, to provide content, services, ads and recommendations on their websites and to generate reporting statistics.

    5 points
  • Amazing RandoAmazing Rando, almost 9 years ago

    This sets a dangerous precedent for other sites to follow suit.

    5 points
  • Daniel FoscoDaniel Fosco, almost 9 years ago

    Not cool, Ev.

    5 points
  • Henry Doe, almost 9 years ago

    Perhaps I am missing something, but I don't really see what the big issue is with this?

    4 points
    • Daniel FoscoDaniel Fosco, almost 9 years ago

      Do not track is do not track, not "it's ok to track if you have cool stories to recommend me".

      This might not have that many practical implications today, but it's the same slippery slope that Facebook fell into 10 years ago.

      8 points
    • Catalin CimpanuCatalin Cimpanu, almost 9 years ago

      Me neither, but lots of people like their privacy.

      I'm currently the only one in my office not using PirateBrowser or Tor Borwser.

      0 points
  • Brand Winnie, almost 9 years ago

    I know were not as awesomely designed (yet) as medium, and I am not a celebrity like Ev, but we would NEVER pull something like this at Seshn. http://seshn.com

    I'm completely tired of our privacies being taken away in the name of some algorithm thinking it can serve better content.

    -Brand @ Seshn

    3 points
  • Tim SkaggsTim Skaggs, almost 9 years ago

    Gah. Dammit. User data is $$.

    2 points
  • Conlin "Wuz" DurbinConlin "Wuz" Durbin, almost 9 years ago (edited almost 9 years ago )

    At least they are telling you.

    Also, you only have to login if you want to write and/or recommend.

    You can read without logging in. They track their users like literally every other startup in existence ever.

    1 point
  • Jeff SmithJeff Smith, almost 9 years ago

    A significant portion of Medium's UX flow is based on preferences and navigating users to an article per their preferences. The suggestion at the bottom of the page on web is a small thing, but the mobile app (swipe right and get delivered new content) is critical to how they've built their browsing experience. I tend to think this isn't as malicious as it is an artifact of how they've chosen to deliver content at the core of their experience. Whether or not that's a good UX decision is another question.

    IMO: I agree with another poster, Privacy > UX, especially if the UX is confusing or obfuscates choice, as I think Medium's does.

    1 point
  • Jared CJared C, almost 9 years ago

    I also just started getting tons of spam from medium. Like, every time an author of a post I've read posts a new story. No thank you.

    1 point
  • Bryce DriesengaBryce Driesenga, almost 9 years ago

    I'm sort of 50/50 on this one. They make it very clear they will do so. It's basically the cost of admission if you want to sign in to the site.

    1 point
    • Nick WNick W, almost 9 years ago

      Agree.

      In principal, I'd imagine there's a weird challenge in trying to maintain a DNT request for a user that's logging in to a creation/consumption site.

      It seems like tracking is fundamental when you're running a service like this. Upon some more thinking, I realized I wasn't 100% sure on the exact implications of what a DNT header meant and a quick glance at Wikipedia acknowledges ambiguity in what it exactly means as well.

      Assuming the picture isn't enlarged in anyway, it seems like a very reasonable disclosure. Based on my current knowledge of the issues, I think it's very responsible as well. It'd be a completely separate issue if they weren't honouring DNT on a regular Medium article you've opened without being logged in.

      1 point
      • Todd SielingTodd Sieling, almost 9 years ago

        There's ambiguity here, though. Do they mean 'do not track me inside Medium (i.e. my account/session)', or 'do not track me as I move across sites (i.e. my browser)'?

        There's a big difference between these two. By making an account I'm implicitly making myself trackable inside Medium, but I might not expect, or want, Medium to know where else on the web I go.

        0 points
  • Dan BerkoDan Berko, almost 9 years ago

    Can someone clarify how tracking on medium will help personalize their particular experience?

    0 points
    • Artem TitoulenkoArtem Titoulenko, almost 9 years ago

      It's used to track what you've already read and what things you might be interested in reading. Medium has lists of potential articles you might like based on your history and social network information, and it mixes those together to suggest articles. It works really well and I often get sucked into hours of reading. Medium is much better when it knows more about your tastes.

      1 point