5 Super Annoying (And Anti-Productive) Bad Habits You Need To Stop On Medium — If You’re Guilty

Medium is a super awesome place. However, if you’re ‘guilty’ of these ‘crimes’, you’re making it less awesome: STOP

Medium is an awesome place; of all the social media outlets now available, Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, etc., it is the only one that I come and leave, energized — instead of being drained and wondering what I just wasted my time doing.

Great chances are that you feel the same too — if you’re a writer at your core; Medium has become home and my only regret remains not creating time for it sooner.

That said, there are some less-than-ideal habits some writers on Medium exhibit — habits that are as annoying as they are counterproductive.

If you’re guilty of any of the below-mentioned crimes, now is the perfect time to consider turning a new leaf.

1. Lone Clapping

Appreciation is a universal language — everyone loves it, writer or not.

On Medium, that takes a different and ultimately satisfying dimension: claps.

When a story is published, the claps that come to it, much like the likes on other conventional platforms like YouTube and Facebook, tell an interesting story, a story of satisfaction with the content and ultimately, deep appreciation of the author of such a soul-enriching piece.

As a writer myself, I can tell you this for free: few feelings in the world compare with genuine appreciation of your work — or body of works as a writer.

But, there’s a little problem…

…on Medium, users are allowed up to fifty claps per story, which is handsome, in my opinion.

Medium does not also charge for the use of these ‘claps’: they are free to use — to the extent of their maximum allocation possible, per story.

Some Medium writers have, unfortunately, mastered the sad act of giving a lone clap to a story and then leaving.

No comments; no highlights; no private notes — just a sad, lone clap.

One clap out of many free available (fifty to be precise), for a story a writer put his heart and soul into and spent hours, penning and editing, is ABSOLUTELY unacceptable.

For perspective, this is 1/50 — a straight ‘F’!

If this isn’t an insult, I don’t know what is; in my considered opinion, not ‘clapping’ at all is better than this masked, profound literary insult!

Now, the interesting thing about these lone clappers is that they aren’t your followers and they have no intention of interacting with your story beyond that lone, sad clap.

My suspicion is that they also don’t even bother to read the story, in the first place; they simply clap so that you’ll notice them and hopefully, hop over to their profiles, follow them, read their works, and help them make some Medium dollars!

To me, this is the very height of selfishness and annoyance…unfortunately, that folks keep on doing this means it somehow works, which is why I keep such ‘writers’ off my work as best as I can…

…I simply BLOCK them off — and bid them farewell to try their annoying habit elsewhere.

You should consider this approach, too — if you’ve experienced this annoying trend on your profile and stories.

2. Commenting Rubbish

If you’ve been a reader of mine for any amount of time, you’ll notice something: I genuinely love the reality of penning words to paper and always maximize my poetic license at any opportunity presented.

Grammarly and AI generally do not love me because of this: they have a hard time following up, understanding, or offering useful advice, as per context.

Fortunately, this is what makes for great, human, non-AI writing that entertains as well as informs; I have no idea of stopping it as it has now become my signature style.

This style has also exposed a lot of challenging practices most writers here on Medium engage in.

For instance, I recently published a story that had the word ‘gig’ in its title, featured prominently.

This led the first commenter on the story to start rambling about ‘side gigs’ and balancing them with writing when in reality, my story was simply talking about play, away from work (and wasn’t even remotely related to anything ‘side gig’.

Sadly, this story was only 578 words (from heading to PS) and a bare three minutes read!

I simply shook my head and moved on.

Sometimes, I understand, one can be pressed for time and may simply skim, without reading the whole story…I do this myself when the story is lengthy and I’m about to catch something else.

The crime?

Commenting rubbish on what you’ve not read, word for word! It says a lot about you, your personality, and importantly, your writing…

…and, it does not say anything good!

3. Asking For Follows

If you follow someone offline long enough, you’re likely to get the cops, right behind you, asking you to freeze and not move.

Your offense? Stalking — and if you’re not very lucky, a host of other associate misdemeanors, lumped.

Online too, many jurisdictions expressly have laws criminalizing cyberstalking and associated punishments, fit for the offense.

However, as bad as following someone (offline) may be in other contexts, it can also be a good thing (online), especially when it happens with your full (implied) consent.

One such scenario is when you’re pumping out awesome stories and you leave your audience no choice but to follow you so that they don’t miss any of your shared thoughts.

The more followers, especially, on Medium, the merrier.

This is where the problem starts: followers are to be attracted, not bought or cajoled over.

If you’re offering content that resonates deeply with someone, they’ll, without you asking, follow you and support your work as best as they can — that is how it works.

Unfortunately, if you need to remind people, aggressively, especially via comments to follow you, there’s a problem; you simply aren’t offering value enough.

Now, here’s the point: you can, as a call to action on your stories remind your readers to consider following you if they loved what they read and would love to read more of such awesomeness.

This makes perfect sense — as some readers may forget or are new on the platform (and still learning the ropes of how things work).

Barging into the comments and begging for followers does not make any sense but rather, reeks of desperation and bothers on spamming!

AVOID it. Or, STOP it.

4. Initiating (An) Invitation To Boost

When I was in my second year as a law student, Contract always held me spellbound; I loved its logic and always appreciated how commonsensical it was.

Repeatedly, I had always told my friends that what was needed to score an ‘A’ in Contract was a logical brain and a healthy dose of commonsense.

But, I digress…

…in Contract, there is what is known as an Invitation to Treat — loosely understood to mean an opportunity to make an offer that might result in a contract.

I sincerely loved how this differed from an offer — which in itself, constitutes a binding contract on acceptance (provided all other elements of a valid offer — and acceptance sufficed).

Unfortunately, since life and law are often at variance, there exist another annoying reality on Medium wherein writers ask others (invite is the right word) over to their profiles to ‘boost’ earnings by clapping for each other, commenting, and highlighting each other’s stories.

As the lines between law and everyday life blur in this scenario, what is left is criminality and a passionate attempt at gaming the system, a system rightfully put in place to reward awesome writers and their good works…

…and all, for selfish, unmerited gain at that!

If you’re involved in this shady business of invitations to boost now is the best time to consider turning a new leaf.

I’ve got a few requests myself since I started being consistent on Medium…and I can tell you for free: I don’t appreciate it.

And, so does every other honest writer!

5. Tagging, Senselessly

Tagging exists on social media for a very good reason: to draw the attention of a party to a post, a photo, a story that they need to see, that they are a part of, or on a lesser level, that will benefit them (if you know them personally, that is).

This, by itself and nature, calls for discretion and responsible use.

Unfortunately, there are some stories that I read that tag more than a dozen Medium users and writers; some, even more than fifty!

This isn’t just senseless tagging, it’s plain old spamming!

For perspective, because this story details the reality of writing on Medium, I’ll surely be tagging Medium and the Medium Staff, but, that’s about it; no one else.

Why?

This story does not in any way concern other Medium writers directly; there is thus no need to expressly draw their attention to what does not implicate them (though I’m pretty sure many writers here would appreciate this piece).

Before you tag senselessly (no apologies) on your next story, first figure out if the folks you’re tagging will appreciate what you’re doing.

If you’re not sure, their silence or one-line response is as loud as any ‘STOP’, shouted on the rooftop, on a cold, chilly, and quiet night, somewhere in the Sahara.

Take the cue!

TL;DR

Some basic good behavior makes for an interesting time here on Medium; if you’re not adhering to them, now is the time to consider doing so.

They are:

Coming from thin air, leaving just a clap — and vanishing back into thin air.
Commenting rubbish, for the sake of commenting, often without reading the entire story.
Shamelessly asking for followers, by spamming the comment section of other writers with these less than honorable requests.
Seeking to artificially inflate your earnings by gaming the system and
Sensely tagging other Medium users and writers even when they clearly have no business with what story you’ve tagged them in or just published.

Before You Exit…

If you hate the ‘AI revolution’ and prefer 100% human-written content, you’re not alone. For a limited time, I’m a freelance writer for hire. Buzz me up, let’s plan how to WOW your readers!

Thanks for reading this story of mine! If you enjoyed it, please click the clap button 50 times, highlight something — that struck you, and leave an insightful comment. Follow me if you’d love to receive updates whenever I publish new stories. You should also sign up to receive email notifications whenever I post a story so you don’t miss any of the awesomeness.