Speaking for myself, when reading on Medium I usually will look at the existing comments before adding my own. If there are many, saying essentially what I would say, I don't comment. And there's also the issue of Medium itself - I read less and less there. My subscription expires in less than 2 weeks and I won't renew. The writers I care about are already on Substack or Patreon.
For me, most of the comments I leave tend to be on the long side...Some of them are very long, lol. Occasionally I have something more concise, but I typically don't like to leave something bland and brief. So that means commenting takes up tons of time. So sometimes I just end up reading the article on my Kobo (I do this for my eyestrain, since Kobo e-readers have no backlight), and don't get around to commenting or even clapping. Not because I don't care, but because the sheer number of articles is immense and overwhelming.
There are some additional reasons: If I see that there are already 40+ comments or so, I might not say anything unless I know from past experience that the writer will reply to (or at least clap for) every comment, including for old posts. Otherwise, I think it's pointless for me to comment if it's unlikely that anyone would read my comment, buried down among so many. (That's why I don't know why people even bother to comment when there are already 80+ comments, but that's my opinion.)
Also, if I have commented on several of a writer's articles, and they never or rarely respond, then I might get discouraged and stop commenting on their work altogether, though I may still read from them. I understand some writers have massive followings and can't possibly get back to everyone. Or some only reply to comments on their newest articles to make the workload more manageable. That is valid and I don't blame them. (Devon Price has written entire posts about needing to set strict digital boundaries with regards to comments and messages! So I can empathize.)
However, even though I can understand and empathize, as a reader, I may still feel discouraged if I rarely or only occasionally get replies, because it feels like my comments make no difference and don't really matter. For writers who only respond to comments on their latest articles, I may end up only commenting on their latest articles. I may clap and/or highlight their old articles, but not comment because I highly doubt the writer would even see them.
Sorry if that sounds cranky, haha, I don't mean to be, just that my time is unfortunately quite limited. So it makes sense to me to write comments only if it's likely that I will hear back from the writer, or at least get claps from the writer as acknowledgement that they read and hopefully liked my comment.
One reason I can think of is that they read the article but it didn't inspire them enough to comment. I read plenty of stories from top to bottom but I'm not always compelled to say something about it. That's my take.
1. When someone leaves a comment, they're not just talking to the writer, they're also talking to anyone else who views that page. If it's a personal and/or controversial topic, people may not always want to put their thoughts out there in public.
2. Writing a comment IS an effort. Even a 'thank you' since I have to make the decision whether to just write 'thank you' or say something more, and if I want to say something more, then what? If all I want to say is 'thanks' it's easier just to hit the clap button a bunch of times.
3. Efforts to boost comments can backfire. For example, a discord server I belong to is currently running a giveaway, but only people who leave at least 50 comments are eligible. Now there's a bunch of low-quality comments (and I probably don't see most of them because I mute the #general chat on that server, on the channels I pay attention to people are required to stay on topic). Come to think of it, discord servers which assign status based on comment activity also sometimes get a bunch of 'filler' comments, so much so that one discord server I belong to changed the status system to remove that incentive.
I'd rather get a few high-quality comments than a bunch of low-quality comments from people who were trying to get points/prizes/etc.
Well, I almost wasn't going to comment since you've already received so many comments, many of which say what I was going to say. lol. But ... I'll leave a comment anyway. Maybe I'll get a gold star ;-)
The main reason I don't always comment is fatigue. I follow so many blogs outside of Medium and so many writers on Medium that, when I put the effort into reading, I usually have little energy left over for commenting. Sure, I could just leave a "Thank you for sharing this wonderful [fill in the blank]," but I think my 50 claps communicate that well enough. I mean, commenting can be fun, and I've enjoyed some good conversations that way. But I feel like everyone and their brother is writing on Medium now, and I just can't keep up. I barely have time to do my own writing much less keep up with everyone else's AND comment as well.
Just my two cents ... so maybe I'll just get a bronze star ;-)
What a fascinating idea. Yeah I’ve been studying what turns someone from a reader or consumer into a fan and then into a passionate super fan. That’s where the real magic happens. They will read or buy nearly everything you create. Such an interesting process.
I don't find Medium the best for engaging discussions—and we’re all supposed to be working at writing, right? Hate to say anything nice about Twitter, but it does make the ‘call and response’ better highlighted. I like the one respondent who said if it’s already been said, why add to it?
I’m leery of engaging for another reason—not wanting to end up in a shouting match with someone. So if I read the entire Medium article and don’t like it, I move on, no need to lecture.
I’m dying to make suggestions, but don’t. Like, who asked me anyway? There’s an old 60s song “Oh lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood” that probably fits here.
When I run across the stories that make me write a response, that’s a good feeling. Even disagreeing with the author of a piece. John Gorman, when he was still writing on Medium, generated a number of my own articles, not all of which were in total praise. Of his passion, I’ll only respect the rage.
Linda Carrol—if you’ve run across her—gave me more. :) The Book Café keeps me busy reading and writing. Congratulations.
So I’ve been mulling over several ideas:
• Following Scot Butwell’s The Salt Path “book club”, I’ll be curious to see how it goes, and whether it will spawn others.
• I’d like to see reading groups for works in progress—though the awkward Medium ‘call and response’ thing mentioned above gets in the way. I need readers for fiction.
Apr 29, 2022·edited Apr 29, 2022Liked by Linda Caroll
I always read comments and I very often write them, but with less frequency and greater brevity. The energy and time I put into writing lengthy comments can be better spent by creating a publishable post of my own for which I might receive some remuneration. I know I sound mercenary and hypocritical considering I haven't published anything worth reading in a while, read constantly ( I still find truly great writers on Medium) and all too often interject my own perspective. but times are tough and I feel the need to get some compensation for my efforts.
Hi Linda. I didn't realize how much I stopped commenting until recently. There are certain topics/writers I read that fall into categories that inflame the trolls.I don't want to add to the hate. I'm a thumb typer on my phone and my always cold hands don't register my typing and it gets frustrating. I also carve out time to read and by the time I get to an article, it seems too late to comment. I haven't given up on Medium yet, because I am my own problem...
It's a purely do unto others as...thing for me. I make the time to comment after a story because I know how much comments mean to me. So sorry to read how many people are considering leaving Medium. For poets like me, it's such a blessing to have a platform
I would leave more comments but I have some finger spasams from past brain trauma and I'm dysletic as are my fingers. Each time I type, I have to go back and change the order of the letters. I feel that is my problem and no big deal. Unless people want to make a big deal of my minimal comments.
I think there are many reasons. For me, I sometimes am not sure what to say, although, I will sometimes do the "thanks for sharing," especially when it is very personal and I really am trying to express gratitude for their courage in sharing something sensitive, sometimes I'm being lazy, or don't feel like I have the time to formulate what I'd really want to say, or just don't feel like engaging. As a writer, I love comments, but as a reader, sometimes I don't feel like engaging. Until social media, did we ever expect the writing/reading process to invite two-way conversation?
Speaking for myself, when reading on Medium I usually will look at the existing comments before adding my own. If there are many, saying essentially what I would say, I don't comment. And there's also the issue of Medium itself - I read less and less there. My subscription expires in less than 2 weeks and I won't renew. The writers I care about are already on Substack or Patreon.
Hey Linda,
For me, most of the comments I leave tend to be on the long side...Some of them are very long, lol. Occasionally I have something more concise, but I typically don't like to leave something bland and brief. So that means commenting takes up tons of time. So sometimes I just end up reading the article on my Kobo (I do this for my eyestrain, since Kobo e-readers have no backlight), and don't get around to commenting or even clapping. Not because I don't care, but because the sheer number of articles is immense and overwhelming.
There are some additional reasons: If I see that there are already 40+ comments or so, I might not say anything unless I know from past experience that the writer will reply to (or at least clap for) every comment, including for old posts. Otherwise, I think it's pointless for me to comment if it's unlikely that anyone would read my comment, buried down among so many. (That's why I don't know why people even bother to comment when there are already 80+ comments, but that's my opinion.)
Also, if I have commented on several of a writer's articles, and they never or rarely respond, then I might get discouraged and stop commenting on their work altogether, though I may still read from them. I understand some writers have massive followings and can't possibly get back to everyone. Or some only reply to comments on their newest articles to make the workload more manageable. That is valid and I don't blame them. (Devon Price has written entire posts about needing to set strict digital boundaries with regards to comments and messages! So I can empathize.)
However, even though I can understand and empathize, as a reader, I may still feel discouraged if I rarely or only occasionally get replies, because it feels like my comments make no difference and don't really matter. For writers who only respond to comments on their latest articles, I may end up only commenting on their latest articles. I may clap and/or highlight their old articles, but not comment because I highly doubt the writer would even see them.
Sorry if that sounds cranky, haha, I don't mean to be, just that my time is unfortunately quite limited. So it makes sense to me to write comments only if it's likely that I will hear back from the writer, or at least get claps from the writer as acknowledgement that they read and hopefully liked my comment.
One reason I can think of is that they read the article but it didn't inspire them enough to comment. I read plenty of stories from top to bottom but I'm not always compelled to say something about it. That's my take.
My first few quick thoughts:
1. When someone leaves a comment, they're not just talking to the writer, they're also talking to anyone else who views that page. If it's a personal and/or controversial topic, people may not always want to put their thoughts out there in public.
2. Writing a comment IS an effort. Even a 'thank you' since I have to make the decision whether to just write 'thank you' or say something more, and if I want to say something more, then what? If all I want to say is 'thanks' it's easier just to hit the clap button a bunch of times.
3. Efforts to boost comments can backfire. For example, a discord server I belong to is currently running a giveaway, but only people who leave at least 50 comments are eligible. Now there's a bunch of low-quality comments (and I probably don't see most of them because I mute the #general chat on that server, on the channels I pay attention to people are required to stay on topic). Come to think of it, discord servers which assign status based on comment activity also sometimes get a bunch of 'filler' comments, so much so that one discord server I belong to changed the status system to remove that incentive.
I'd rather get a few high-quality comments than a bunch of low-quality comments from people who were trying to get points/prizes/etc.
Well, I almost wasn't going to comment since you've already received so many comments, many of which say what I was going to say. lol. But ... I'll leave a comment anyway. Maybe I'll get a gold star ;-)
The main reason I don't always comment is fatigue. I follow so many blogs outside of Medium and so many writers on Medium that, when I put the effort into reading, I usually have little energy left over for commenting. Sure, I could just leave a "Thank you for sharing this wonderful [fill in the blank]," but I think my 50 claps communicate that well enough. I mean, commenting can be fun, and I've enjoyed some good conversations that way. But I feel like everyone and their brother is writing on Medium now, and I just can't keep up. I barely have time to do my own writing much less keep up with everyone else's AND comment as well.
Just my two cents ... so maybe I'll just get a bronze star ;-)
What a fascinating idea. Yeah I’ve been studying what turns someone from a reader or consumer into a fan and then into a passionate super fan. That’s where the real magic happens. They will read or buy nearly everything you create. Such an interesting process.
Thanks for the article.
You sure have a lot of comments, Linda!
I don't find Medium the best for engaging discussions—and we’re all supposed to be working at writing, right? Hate to say anything nice about Twitter, but it does make the ‘call and response’ better highlighted. I like the one respondent who said if it’s already been said, why add to it?
I’m leery of engaging for another reason—not wanting to end up in a shouting match with someone. So if I read the entire Medium article and don’t like it, I move on, no need to lecture.
I’m dying to make suggestions, but don’t. Like, who asked me anyway? There’s an old 60s song “Oh lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood” that probably fits here.
When I run across the stories that make me write a response, that’s a good feeling. Even disagreeing with the author of a piece. John Gorman, when he was still writing on Medium, generated a number of my own articles, not all of which were in total praise. Of his passion, I’ll only respect the rage.
Linda Carrol—if you’ve run across her—gave me more. :) The Book Café keeps me busy reading and writing. Congratulations.
So I’ve been mulling over several ideas:
• Following Scot Butwell’s The Salt Path “book club”, I’ll be curious to see how it goes, and whether it will spawn others.
• I’d like to see reading groups for works in progress—though the awkward Medium ‘call and response’ thing mentioned above gets in the way. I need readers for fiction.
I'll stop now.
I always read comments and I very often write them, but with less frequency and greater brevity. The energy and time I put into writing lengthy comments can be better spent by creating a publishable post of my own for which I might receive some remuneration. I know I sound mercenary and hypocritical considering I haven't published anything worth reading in a while, read constantly ( I still find truly great writers on Medium) and all too often interject my own perspective. but times are tough and I feel the need to get some compensation for my efforts.
Hi Linda. I didn't realize how much I stopped commenting until recently. There are certain topics/writers I read that fall into categories that inflame the trolls.I don't want to add to the hate. I'm a thumb typer on my phone and my always cold hands don't register my typing and it gets frustrating. I also carve out time to read and by the time I get to an article, it seems too late to comment. I haven't given up on Medium yet, because I am my own problem...
I would like a gold star, please!
It's a purely do unto others as...thing for me. I make the time to comment after a story because I know how much comments mean to me. So sorry to read how many people are considering leaving Medium. For poets like me, it's such a blessing to have a platform
I would leave more comments but I have some finger spasams from past brain trauma and I'm dysletic as are my fingers. Each time I type, I have to go back and change the order of the letters. I feel that is my problem and no big deal. Unless people want to make a big deal of my minimal comments.
I think there are many reasons. For me, I sometimes am not sure what to say, although, I will sometimes do the "thanks for sharing," especially when it is very personal and I really am trying to express gratitude for their courage in sharing something sensitive, sometimes I'm being lazy, or don't feel like I have the time to formulate what I'd really want to say, or just don't feel like engaging. As a writer, I love comments, but as a reader, sometimes I don't feel like engaging. Until social media, did we ever expect the writing/reading process to invite two-way conversation?
Lol I guess I'm earning some gold stars with you and Kristi Keller then lol