Summary

A top writer on Medium, referred to as Lady Macbeth, takes revenge on writers who fail to reciprocate her support by unclapping, unfollowing, and trolling them, highlighting the toxic dynamics of reciprocity and entitlement within the writing community.

Abstract

The article discusses the actions of a prominent Medium writer, who, after noticing a lack of reciprocal engagement from other writers she supported, embarked on a campaign of retribution. Dubbed "Lady Macbeth," this writer, with 45x Top Writer status, felt entitled to receive claps back and was offended when they were not forthcoming. Her revenge tactics included removing her support (unclapping), unfollowing, and leaving trolling comments on the offending writers' work. This behavior underscores a problematic expectation within some writing circles where support is given with the expectation of receiving something in return, rather than for genuine appreciation of the content.

Opinions

The top writer, Lady Macbeth, believes that when she claps for non-Top Writers, they should reciprocate at least twice as much, indicating a sense of entitlement.
Lady Macbeth's actions suggest she values the transactional nature of engagement on Medium over the quality of the content or genuine interactions.
The writer of the article, Carlo Zeno, seems to question the validity and fairness of Lady Macbeth's expectations and actions, implying that claps should be given based on genuine appreciation, not as part of a quid pro quo.
There is an implication that the pressure to engage in reciprocal behavior can lead to inauthentic interactions and a toxic environment within the writing community.
The article, presented as satire, uses hyperbole to critique the culture of entitlement and the expectation of reciprocity on writing platforms like Medium.

Revenge

A Top Writer’s Unclapping Purge

The revenge of an unhappy clapper

I have been in discussion with a very unhappy Top Writer on Medium. I have promised to keep her identity hidden, and she has given me the green light to share her story with you. As she put it, “let it be a warning to everybody.”

For the purposes of this story, let’s call this Top Writer, Lady Macbeth. I wanted to find a nice neutral name that didn’t give you any preconceived ideas.

Now, Lady Macbeth is a 45x Top Writer on Medium. Someone who doesn’t suffer fools lightly, and can play algorithms like they’re accordions. She knows exactly how to stick a 5 just underneath a 4 on any given listicle. She knows how to dangle carrots, inflate expectations, sell fakes, and adjust stats.

Everything was going swimmingly for a very long time until Lady Macbeth started to notice a disturbing trend. When Lady Macbeth would deign to stoop her Top Writer’s status to clap on someone’s story, they wouldn’t always stop everything they were doing and clap right back. In fact, many wouldn’t clap back at all.

This would be like Queen Elizabeth allowing Shakespeare to put on a play with Shakespeare failing to get on his knees to kiss her ring and praise her aging beauty to the skies in return.

In other words, this was high treason that warranted some blowback. We might not execute beheadings anymore as they did in Enlightened Elizabethan England, but Medium has given us other little revenge measures at our fingertips.

The box below became Lady Macbeth’s favorite little arsenal of revenge weapons.

Lady Macbeth opted to go on an unclapping purge for any lowly writer who dared not clap back. This would result in a One Fan loss and a 2 cent loss in income for that writer’s monthly earnings.

She didn’t just stop there, either. Next, she would unfollow the obnoxious little upstart. And to finish him or her off, she would get on their wall and start trolling them in their comment sections. Nevermind the fact these trolling comments would add a few cents to their income.

For example, if the traitor happened to be a poet, Lady Macbeth would offer such withering responses as “Does this even make sense?” Or, “Why do some of your lines rhyme while others do not?” Or, “Is this a poem or is it leftovers from your high school journal?” Nasty stuff that would scare the hell out of the writer.

When Lady Macbeth shared all of this with me over a cup of coffee, I asked her if maybe she was being a bit harsh. But she wouldn’t budge on this. It was religion to her: when Lady Macbeth claps at non-Top Writers, non-Top Writers should be clapping back at least twice as much. I offered, “What if they don’t like your story, or are simply indifferent to it?” She gave me a look that made me regret my question.

I then tried a different tack. “Maybe you should only clap at stuff you genuinely like, rather than clapping for the purpose of getting a clap back? And then, likewise, when you get claps you will know they are genuine claps and not obligatory clap backs. This way, you won’t have to spend so much time unclapping and unfollowing and trolling others and can get back to writing and reading writers you really enjoy.”

Lady Macbeth had about enough of me at this point. She looked at her watch and told me she has to run. She also threw me a look that had “I’m going to fucking unfollow your ass” written all over it.

After then granting me permission to declare this warning to all of you, she pronounced she was on her way to write her next great listicle called

10 Ways To Avoid Being An Ungrateful Upstart

I was left sitting there with my cold coffee wondering what I could have said differently.

____________________

Thank you for reading, and thank you to the team at Muddyum for providing this space for satire. If you enjoyed this piece, you can support by buying me a coffee or reading another of my pieces below. Thanks again 🙏

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