I have been using Daily.dev for like a year and worked hard to build my community and profile. Then, one day, I suddenly got my account restricted. Why? Because of Daily.dev policies.
Let’s talk about their policies from way back.
When there was a Community Pick, I used to share my work there, and most of the time, it got picked and published. Once my articles started performing well for the community and reaching more people, I suddenly received a comment from their CTO saying that personal promotions are not allowed in Community Picks. I tried to explain that I wasn’t promoting anything, just sharing my knowledge. But that was it—Community Picks for personal posts were no longer an option. This was back when public squads didn’t exist.
Then, I started publishing in squads.
Most of my posts were rejected. But then, with a new update, I could finally create my own squad. So, I created one and started sharing my articles there. Over time, my posts started performing like magic. Some of them even hit over 1 million impressions.
Then I thought, why not join the Medium Partner Program to earn some side income? So, I joined and added member-only tags to my articles. Of course, I also added a free link for non-members, so everyone could read my content.
As my articles started performing even better on Daily.dev, some haters complained that they couldn’t read my articles because of the paywall. They started spamming and reporting my articles.
They even went to the founders’ official posts, demanding that paywall articles be banned. Eventually, I received a comment on one of my posts saying, “Please don’t share paywall articles; it’s against the policies.”
I tried to explain my side:
I always share the best of my knowledge. I also provide free links to my paywall articles for non-members. Everyone on Daily.dev shares their work to get more visibility, traffic, and conversions. Some share products, some share journeys, some share knowledge, promoting in some form is inevitable. I do the same. I just wanted to clarify my intent and continue sharing my work.
In the end, I never got a reply to that comment. So I kept sharing my paywall content with free links as well. Ignoring the warning was my mistake (that was on me).
After a while, I noticed that my articles weren’t getting any visibility. I copied the link of my squad in incognito mode and realized that none of my posts were visible to the public.
I submitted a request to lift the ban on my account. Here’s the reply I got from their CTO:
Hi Muhammad,
While I understand your frustration, I personally warned you a couple of times that publishing paywall content is against our content guidelines.
You decided to ignore this warning and kept publishing this content.
Best,
Ido
I replied:
Thank you for your response. I understand the policies, and I have always tried to share quality content.
I’ve noticed that everyone promotes their content, with the goal of getting better reach, visibility, and conversions. That means all Daily.dev users are promoting something in some way.
I would highly appreciate it if you could lift my ban because I always share free links in my stories for non-members. I understand it’s your platform and your rules, but I just wanted to share that I’ve made meaningful contributions and would like to continue.
I just wanted to earn some side income—there’s nothing wrong with that. I hope you understand my frustration after all the work I’ve done.
Thank you for your time.
Best,
Usman
I never received a reply, and my profile remained banned. I sent emails again and again, but still no response.
At the end of the day, it’s their platform, their property, and their product. They are free to enforce policies however they see fit. I did my part, and unfortunately, it’s sad to say goodbye to the Daily.dev community and delete my profile.
I know I was wrong to go against the policies, and I even sent another email:
Request to lift ban from my Daily.dev account
Hi, this is Usman. As you know, I was banned for sharing paywall articles in the Daily.dev feed. I humbly request that you lift my ban. I assure you that I will never share any paywall articles again. I’ve worked hard to build my profile on Daily.dev and really appreciate the work you’re doing.
I just want to continue my journey in content creation and share what I know to the best of my abilities. Daily.dev is one of the few platforms I genuinely like, and I hope you’ll consider my request. Whatever your decision, I would appreciate a response.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Best regards,
Muhammad Usman
https://app.daily.dev/muhammad_usman
I never got a response again.
So, this time, I decided to leave Daily.dev for good. It was a good journey. I will delete my profile in 3 days. I appreciate the support.
This was my squad: Developer's Journey
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