Does Medium’s algorithm punish spiritual content?

Or humor? Or poetry? Or tech writing? Short answer: no, but let’s 🌮 ‘bout it.

Photo by the author taken at Church of the 8 Wheels

I recently got an email from a publisher of a spiritual publication on Medium. They explained that their publication’s writers were quite certain that Medium’s distribution algorithm, the Boost Nomination Pilot, and our curation team were intentionally set against spiritual content.

They went on to say that some of their writers were thinking of leaving the platform because they were feeling so frustrated. They asked if there were folks in the Boost Nomination Pilot specifically focused on finding quality spiritual content on Medium, and if I had any encouragement I could offer to their publication’s writers.

I see questions like this floating around Medium often — does the distribution algorithm not reward [fill in the blank topic] stories? Do Boost nominators or curators hate [fill in the blank topic] stories? Are writers covering [fill in the blank topic] being punished by the Medium Partner Program changes?

I thought I’d share the specific answer I gave to this publisher, but it’s relevant to almost any [fill in the blank topic] — other than the topics specifically mentioned here.