Q&A FAQ
Answering Your Questions on Engagement and Shadowban
Regarding my article from January 17th
I recently published an article that has been quite successful.
Going in a hurry? You’re killing your Medium profile
In particular, many of you have asked for further details and posed a series of questions in the comments. Today, I will answer those questions in this post to address all your doubts. I will modify them slightly to make them shorter or more detailed while preserving their original meaning.
First Doubt (by Tjahaja)
I think it’s difficult to determine if someone is an early clapper because on Medium, like on other social platforms, the notifications are not exactly real-time.
Even if there is effectively a delay, it’s not a 10-minute delay, so if you receive the notification that someone has clapped on two or three articles at nearly the same time, considering an average article of 3/4 minutes read, you can assume they are probably spammers (I can bet on this).
This answer is also for the question of Cat S Guan.
Second Doubt (by Larry Sherrer)
What is the best way to reward a good article? Is it best to comment at the end of an article or on highlighted lines?
In this case, I regret to inform you that I don’t have a definitive answer. However, from what I have gathered by studying this system, it doesn’t change significantly if you clap after the 30-second interval, which I assume gives “meaning” to user actions. The timing of your comment is irrelevant, unless you comment and clap in less than 30 seconds (a typical spammer move).
Third Doubt (by Martynas Ki. (@strangecash)
Do you have any source on the algorithm work in rewarding only those who engage genuinely?
Yes, I have a source.
And that is…
🥁🥁🥁
Myself.
When I started my journey as a writer on Medium, I immediately encountered the infamous shadowban. It all began when I decided to boost traffic to my profile through engagement.
However, my engagement tactics were precisely the type that I now oppose: spammy clapping and commenting. My goal was to reach as many people as possible, so I didn’t consider spending at least 30 seconds on an article, nor was I aware of the importance of doing so.
I noticed that my new posts were not receiving any reads, except from people I “attracted” through spammy actions.I had to interact with others to attract traffic, but it wasn’t sustainable. Therefore, I paused my activity on Medium for a couple of days. Upon returning and publishing a new article, the issue was resolved.
Obviously, I haven’t continued to clap without reading. It was a good lesson.
I have not only converted but also found an amazing community here on Medium, and my engagement is now entirely authentic. In fact, I only comment and applaud posts after a thorough read (which is why I can’t reach the daily limit of comments).
I am happy about this personal growth that has led me to know great writers and great people and engagement, from strategy, has turned into a pleasure.
In conclusion, I must mention Nicola de Vera’s comment, which prompted me to reconsider what initially was the core of my article: the code snippet against spammers. I had strongly emphasized this point at the beginning of the article.
As you may have noticed, I did not adhere to my intention of including that code snippet in my new articles, including this one. Not because I don’t consider it useful against spammers, but because I find it even more effective to definitively block them when I “discover” them. Addressing the problem at its root.
Thanks for reading.
A special thank to Bin Jiang for his precious tips and for inspiring me to write this second part of the article.
I also want to thank everyone who commented with kind words on the first article: Saeed Sobhani, Boysie Gordon, Gratiela Grigorini, Emy Knazovic, Beau Stanley, Sílvia PM, PhD 🍂, Jijo George, tobi, Susan Wheelock, Lydia Lim, Suri Nova, Sergi Slavich💎, The Lion the Bunny and the Bear, Barbara J. Martin, Zee-Nayab, Mike Sansone, Waseem Baloch, Sean Ra ☀️🌜💞🌛, Cindy Roaming, Nonso Emetoh, Cristina Cattai, Brenda Arledge, Midnight Young, Sharleez Safi, Mario Da Silva, Livvy Skelton-Price. It is thanks to your support that I decided to conduct some more in-depth research on the new algorithm’s functioning.
