Medium Deprecates Custom Domains
Medium (via Brent Simmons):
Medium is no longer offering new custom domains as a feature. Instead, you can create a publication on Medium that will live on a medium.com/publication-name URL.
Previously: Backchannel Is Moving to Wired, Renewing Medium’s Focus, Anywhere But Medium.
Update (2018-09-05): David Heinemeier Hansson:
I would not recommend anyone to use Medium for a new publication without custom domain support. Medium has proven themselves an excessively volatile partner to publications already. Their whims will change again. You need an escape hatch.
Also: “If you already have a custom domain on Medium, nothing will change for you for the foreseeable future, and your domain will continue to work as expected”. What a shitty way to sow doubt amongst existing publications. Signal vs Noise is OUT the second this changes.
And the strong implied suggestion that this will change, Medium’s “foreseeable future” seems to be about a fortnight, should we prod all publishers to have their contingency plans ready to go. What a shame.
Three years ago we explained why moving Signal v Noise to Medium made sense to us. I’m very happy with the time we’ve spent on the platform so far, but the choice wouldn’t look so simple today.
After further review, we’re going to be leaving Medium at some point in the near-to-mid-term future. Thanks for all the fish, @ev! You built a beautiful typewriter, the early community was awesome, and I respect trying something different. Shame about the VC pressures. Adieu!
I don’t understand why any publication, even a personal blog, would use Medium without a custom domain name. It’s not just about branding now, but about long-term sustainability. If you have your own domain name, you can keep old URLs working in perpetuity.
Yet another example of why it is good to control your own content on your own system, rather than relying on someone else's walled garden. Someday, Medium is going to change its business model or simply disappear, and a lot of people will be very unhappy.