February 2022 — Letter to Readers

Adventures in demonetization and community support

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Hello, everybody,

A short update, for this month. Those of you who have been following me for a few months know that I have a habit of putting together this monthly newsletter and digest. February has been an eventful month in more ways that one. Let me offer you a quick update and some thoughts on what to expect.

1. I’d like to start with a brief request. Medium sent out a demonetization notice earlier this month, on the 15th, telling me that I needed to reach 100 followers by March 2nd or risk being de-monetized. I was a 66 followers and didn’t see how I could reasonably bridge the gap in that time without resorting to the follow-for-follow approach which, for many reasons, I dislike. I braced myself for the inevitable and wrote about my decision to ride out the demonetization and deal with the consequences.
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   What happened instead was I received an immense amount of community support. It is now March 2nd and I am at the 98 follower mark as of the time I’m writing this. The assistance has been humbling. Also, I would like to give special notice to Terry L. Cooper, who specifically requested that others take a look at my writing.
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   Since there are only two left before I hit 100, I’m going to break my protocol a bit and request help. I’m not comfortable…