Products · Product
Medium
Raised as a usability problem by 492 people on Hacker News over 17 years (2010–2026), in 334 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
- 1
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- 3Pages are always slow to loadUnreviewed
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- 3Pages are always slow to loadUnreviewed
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- 16Low-contrast grey text is hard to readUnreviewed
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- 21Scrolling is incredibly slow and laggyUnreviewed
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Nagging popups push readers to register before readingUnreviewed
20102026- Constant pop-ups, slide-ins and nag prompts interrupt reading and drive visitors away2026-08-04
- Pop-up covers most of the screen and cannot be closed, blocking reading2025-11-27
- Pestered by popups on blogging site2025-11-15
Paywall is infuriating to hit while reading articlesUnreviewed
20102026- Content locked behind login or paywall, so users leave before reading2023-02-11
- Unclear when publishing whether an article will be hit by the paywall2023-02-11
- Paywall is infuriating to hit when reading articles2023-02-11
Pages are always slow to loadUnreviewed
20102026- The site takes multiple seconds to load on a fast connection2025-07-11
- Pages become slow to load because of trackers2024-04-25
- Code sections take a while to load, making the page slow2023-02-11
Must log in or register just to read an articleUnreviewed
20102026- Search results clutter with articles that demand sign-up steps before reading2023-04-28
- Forced sign-up and subscription required just to read articles2023-02-10
- Forces account creation with name, email and password just to read an article2022-10-16
Images stay blurry until the user scrolls past themUnreviewed
20102026- Images pop in late as a blurry placeholder while scrolling, causing a janky wait2020-05-27
- Images stay blurry until the user scrolls past them2019-09-08
- Images stay blank for a long time, so captions are read before the picture appears2018-06-02
Real articles are hard to find amid low-quality postsUnreviewed
20102026- Recommendations surface clickbait from unknown writers instead of quality articles2023-02-11
- Hard to find real articles amid repetitive or low-quality posts2022-12-03
- Layout and paywall are hard to digest, and search results are flooded with bland repeated posts2022-10-18
Articles are near impossible to read without JavaScriptUnreviewed
20102026- Shows a blank page until JavaScript loads the content2022-01-20
- JavaScript interferes with users' ability to copy text from articles2021-09-14
- Articles are near impossible to read with JavaScript disabled; even scrolling needs it2021-08-03
Highlighter popup appears while reading and distractsUnreviewed
20102026- The highlighting feature is distracting while reading articles2019-06-06
- Highlighting text while reading accidentally triggers the comment feature2019-01-08
- A toolbar pops up whenever text is highlighted, interrupting reading2018-01-24
Low-contrast grey text is hard to readUnreviewed
20102026- Grey article text is hard to read, poor visual accessibility2022-05-18
- Poor visual accessibility from low-contrast grey text on the site2022-05-18
- Users cannot select black text, and the site is poor for visual accessibility2022-05-18
Article becomes invisible behind a pop-up overlay while scrollingUnreviewed
20102026- Full-page subscribe modal pops up while scrolling through an article2026-02-10
- Overlay won't dismiss, so the article can't be scrolled2024-04-04
- Article section is locked behind a subscription banner while scrolling2022-10-28
Clicking a comment and going back loses the reader's placeUnreviewed
20102026- Comment section keeps jumping up and down while reading2022-10-16
- Whole comment is a link; accidental clicks lose scroll position and require re-finding the place2019-01-30
- Commenter cannot figure out how the comment section works2018-11-14
Huge fonts show little content and scrolling is slowedUnreviewed
20102026- Small font size and disabled zooming make text hard to read on mobile2024-03-13
- Layout with huge fonts, whitespace and persistent banners makes content hard to read2019-04-20
- Default text is so tiny the site is hard to read2017-06-20
Reading comments requires many clicks and page reloadsUnreviewed
20102026- Reading a comment on an article takes 3+ clicks or refreshes2020-01-02
- Reading a string of comments requires many unnecessary clicks and page reloads2018-03-25
- Only one comment shows per page, so reading a thread means clicking into every comment2017-02-05
Replies appear in RSS feeds mixed in with articlesUnreviewed
20102026- Feeds are cluttered with ads and unrelated article links, and users are nagged for engagement2023-02-11
- RSS feeds aren't linked anywhere, so readers can't discover them2019-08-27
- Feed keeps surfacing unwanted articles despite preferences and explicit searches2019-07-15
Copy and paste blocked, and selecting text prompts tweetingUnreviewed
20102026- Highlighting text offers tweeting but blocks copying it for saving2022-01-23
- Copy/paste blocked and selecting text prompts tweeting instead2021-09-11
- Clicking and dragging to highlight text triggers a social pop-up that blocks copying2021-08-11
Scrolling is incredibly slow and laggyUnreviewed
20102026- Scrolling is incredibly slow, making the site laggy to use2020-10-31
- Scrolling feels sluggish on mobile and there is no scroll bar to show article length2019-05-17
- Pages become slow and laggy once the user starts scrolling2017-01-10
Pressing space to scroll does nothing on postsUnreviewed
20102026- Medium pages scroll to the top when the page is reloaded2022-09-27
- Article page won't scroll in Safari 12 on Mac2018-10-22
- Scroll hotkeys don't work until the page is clicked to focus it2018-03-06
Fullscreen ads make the site bloated and hard to useUnreviewed
20102026- Site has become deliberately unusable, after earlier being clean and ad-free2024-12-29
- Bloated, ad-filled page with hostile design that is hard to read2024-11-10
- Site becomes bloated and difficult to use after revisions, with fullscreen ads2023-02-11
Article text takes about four seconds to appear after imagesUnreviewed
20102026- Article text blanks the screen, shows placeholders, then reappears seconds later2026-01-02
- Article page takes several seconds before content becomes visible2020-06-08
- Text on article pages takes about four seconds to appear after images2013-09-21
Lazy loading is annoying on slow connectionsUnreviewed
20102026- Slow loading images and pages, with banners and sidebars covering half the screen2022-10-16
- Images show as indistinguishable colour blobs on slow connections before loading fully2021-10-12
- Images stay as blurry blobs on slow connections, with no way to force a particular image to load2021-04-04
Medium links look like articles, so people click them by accidentUnreviewed
20102026- Medium links look like ordinary articles, so people accidentally click them2022-10-16
- Content moves out of the way on every click, and it's hard to tell who wrote an article2014-11-20
- Unrelated link block looks like the article ended, confusing readers mid-article2013-10-02
Links open the Medium app, which fails to load the articleUnreviewed
20102026- Link wouldn't open the article and search couldn't find it when logged in on mobile Safari2025-04-06
- Link opens the Medium app and fails to load the article2020-11-02
- Sharing a link to an article doesn't work like it does on normal web pages2018-07-12
Page jumps a few lines after scrolling, losing the reader's placeUnreviewed
20102026- Text jumps sideways when the page is clicked, which is disorienting2015-09-29
- Scrolling only moves the page down every other attempt2015-01-08
- Page jumps 2-3 lines after scrolling stops, so the reader loses their place2013-12-04
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Constant pop-ups, slide-ins and nag prompts interrupt reading and drive visitors away2026-08-04
- Tab freezes after scrolling a little, blocking scrolling up or down2026-06-22
- Tutorial hidden behind sign-up, topic selection, then a paywall2026-06-18
- Full-page subscribe modal pops up while scrolling through an article2026-02-10
- Article text blanks the screen, shows placeholders, then reappears seconds later2026-01-02
- Pop-up covers most of the screen and cannot be closed, blocking reading2025-11-27
- Pestered by popups on blogging site2025-11-15
- App download, cookie, and subscribe popups block content immediately on opening the site2025-11-02
- The site takes multiple seconds to load on a fast connection2025-07-11
- Site is infested with pop-ups, making reading hard2025-06-16
- Layout and embedded Google Sheets make the site hard to navigate and understand2025-05-07
- Must click away many popups and overlays before reading an article2025-05-06
- Link wouldn't open the article and search couldn't find it when logged in on mobile Safari2025-04-06
- Site has become deliberately unusable, after earlier being clean and ad-free2024-12-29
- Bloated, ad-filled page with hostile design that is hard to read2024-11-10
- A popup blocks half the screen asking the reader to sign up2024-09-11
- Site is cluttered with popups that get in the way of reading2024-09-08
- After reading an article, must navigate back to the main site2024-09-06
- Two separate account sign-up popups must be dismissed before the article can be read2024-07-27
- Forced registration to read free content, and the UX is annoying once registered2024-06-05
- Told it was already subscribed when trying to subscribe; password reset never worked2024-06-05
- No clear way to refuse cookies; huge subscribe banner appears every visit2024-05-17
- Medium's reading experience is terrible for the reader2024-05-17
- Pinch-to-zoom is blocked on mobile, so screenshots can't be enlarged2024-04-30
- Pages become slow to load because of trackers2024-04-25
- Subscription popups bombard readers and block articles from being read2024-04-15
- Overlay won't dismiss, so the article can't be scrolled2024-04-04
- Reader page is so frustrating the user leaves before reading the article2024-03-16
- Small font size and disabled zooming make text hard to read on mobile2024-03-13
- Obnoxious modals and paywall interrupt reading the articles2024-02-16
- Medium articles are buried under popups, overlays, trackers and cookie prompts2024-01-28
- Account creation leads to an upgrade prompt, and the monthly option is hidden as a low-contrast button2024-01-19
- Text-only Medium pages are unusable on an old Intel Atom netbook2024-01-18
- Google sign-in repeatedly redirects back to the home page, blocking article access2024-01-16
- Large sign-up box takes up much of the page and is likely a dark pattern2023-12-21
- Finds the Medium platform overall more user-hostile than Twitter, with no specific problem named2023-11-24
- Sign-in popup hides the way past it behind grey text, a dark pattern2023-10-31
- Constant popups and sometimes-required subscription block reading articles2023-10-17
- Sign-up popup covers most of the screen and cannot be closed2023-10-16
- Gets blocked by a nag screen on arrival and leaves2023-10-04
- Popup gets in the way of reading the article2023-08-28
- Site experience has degraded, pushing the author away from posting there2023-08-24
- Sign-up modal nags readers and is hard to get past2023-08-17
- Signing in with Google gave an error for many months2023-07-31
- Horrible user experience makes people ignore the sites2023-05-09
- Describes Medium's user experience as terrible, without saying what goes wrong2023-05-09
- Starts with a sign-up page, giving no way to see what the site is about2023-04-28
- Search results clutter with articles that demand sign-up steps before reading2023-04-28
- Commenter calls the site unusable without saying what goes wrong2023-03-12
- Added popups, sticky cookie banners and sign-in nags that clutter the reading experience2023-02-12