Member Content Guidelines

Medium is an open platform for authentic voices to share their thoughts and experiences, and through conversation move us towards greater understanding.

We believe in the power of words to create, build up, inform, nourish, and repair. Toward that ideal, our Medium Partner Program seeks to foster original writing that entertains, informs and educates, expresses truths boldly, and seeks ways forward thoughtfully and inclusively.

To be eligible for inclusion and potential monetization from member-only content, user posts must meet Medium’s Rules as well as the following guidelines and content requirements.

Editorial guidelines

Here are some best practices we suggest to help you have the greatest success with your member-only stories:

Smart voices welcome
All types of thinkers, writers, and storytellers find their home on Medium, with stories covering every topic under the sun. So if you have an idea to share respectfully, it’s welcome to be published to the member community.

Topics you care deeply about make the best posts, and we encourage you to highlight your own perspective — whether that comes from real-world experience, original research, or reporting in the field.

Introduce yourself
Let readers know who you are and what you write about by completely filling out the user profile bio and avatar that shows up at the top of every post.

Use the right tags
You can tag your stories with up to five tags to help readers find your work.

Accurately and carefully tagging your post will increase its potential distribution and exposure to the right audience.

Finishing touches matter
Use an appropriate title and subtitle to best reflect your idea and to help promote it in post listings on and off the platform. We strongly recommend scanning for typos before publishing and sharing.

Images count
Medium posts with one or more quality images relevant to the content perform better both on Medium and when shared on other networks.

Double-check to make sure you’re not violating copyright or licensing with your images. Free resources like Pexels, Pixabay, and Unsplash are great for sourcing Creative Commons-licensed images.

Keep the conversation going
If you receive responses to your post, engage with your readers by responding to them and applauding for their responses, where appropriate. (You can also hide or report responses you feel are inappropriate or violate our rules.)

Content Requirements

To be eligible for inclusion and potential monetization from member-only content, stories must meet all general Medium Rules as well as the following content requirements. We’ve set these additional guidelines for member-only stories to create a fair environment for writers in our Partner Program and a richer reading experience for members.

• You may not sell advertising in or on your member-only content.
• Member stories should not exist with the predominant purpose of driving traffic to an external website, business, or product. All included content must be relevant, substantial and informative.
• If you have received compensation, free goods/services, or anything of value in connection with the topic of a post, you must make this clear.
• Do not ask for claps or include other calls to action, including gifs of clapping, requests for donations, or other links or embeds for the purpose of capturing user information or soliciting money.
• Do not use content or images licensed as non-commercial in your Partner Program posts.

If you violate these rules
Medium reserves the right to review posts or accounts at any time and stop payment for any post or to any account, and/or remove from the Member section content that violates these Member Content Guidelines, or Medium’s general rules. In deciding whether something has violated the Rules and Guidelines, we will take into account things like the context, newsworthiness, and nature of the posted information and applicable privacy laws. Repeated violations of the Rules and Requirements will result in permanent ineligibility to participate in the program.

Reporting content
If you see member-only content that you believe violates these rules and guidelines, please flag the post in the product or send them to yourfriends@medium.com for review.

Updated November 2018