I can see where you are coming from. For me, a good bit of my views do come from social media. But, you need to realize that I have a good sized network on both FB and Twitter… I’ve been on both since the early days.

Because I have been on both for so long, a good part of my network followed me to Instagram. There I share images with short pieces — but only when the short piece is paired with my own image. I don’t worry about those tracking back here to Medium — I do it because it reaches some people that don’t see my stuff otherwise.

I don’t know that I will ever add a donation link. If I do, it will most likely be a Patreon link instead of a direct donation link. I agree that people won’t give on any particular piece, but they will give to support my work as a poet and essayist. (Well, in some cases, to help me with medical bills… but that’s supporting me. Same difference.)

The one place I totally agree with you: How Medium treats publication editors. I do Chalkboard for the community and my joy of it. I think that a little bit of cash from the pieces we publish would be a nice extra. It would also make it easier to be an editor. Because we editors build our publications for visibility, it is just hurting Medium itself to not let us in the loop.