Writing
Are Links in Comments Unprofessional?
I was blocked for including my supporting story link and would appreciate reader views.
Synopsis
The author, following the usual stereotypes and prejudices, accused me of self-promotion. A false assumption.
I include links out of pure laziness. Why write a 100-line comment 20 times — if I have a story saying the same thing?
I summarize my point and add the link to my article at the end of the comment to provide support when I have one that fits.
I’ve had numerous positive responses on the comments and linked articles using this technique. This is the first negative one.
The block
If I see a comment that is a 5-minute read, I rarely read them. I prefer that the commenter turn them into a well-written story, referencing the original article providing the inspiration, that I can read later. If they comment with a summary and link, I have the choice to go to the link. With a 100-line comment, I don’t.
I was quite shocked at being blocked. More so by the reason.
I didn’t discover the reason until I checked my emails on my laptop an hour later. Unlike most people, I do not keep my cell phone with me constantly and do not have emails sent to the phone. The screen is too small for me to read easily.
Had she left things alone, I could have edited the comments and removed the links.
Invalid assumptions
She assumed I would see the first email before writing another comment. Very unprofessional — wild assumptions. Here is the first email:
I have removed your comment from my article by hiding it from view. You should know better than attaching a link to your writing on another writer’s stream. It is not generally considered acceptable. In addition, your work is on Illumination and that is one publication that I do not have any respect for.
Do not promote your work on my stream.
Why should I know better? Just by stating that including links is unprofessional in the next email highlights another false assumption.
Most people writing on Medium do not have journalism degrees and have not written for major publications. It’s extremely unprofessional to assume that others know everything you do.
As for not generally considered acceptable,
A link to someone’s website would be unacceptable since it has nothing to do with the post.
I hope to discover here from the readers if a pertinent link in a comment is acceptable.
Results
Ironically, she will be paid for the time I spent reading 3 of her stories and the time I spent writing the comments. Perhaps requiring readers to compose lengthy comments is another way to generate income. Unprofessional, especially for someone writing on morals.
I did have a lot of respect for this author as a self-described “polymath” who used unique logic to support her positions. She presents a different viewpoint that provokes a lot of thought. I never thought of her as being a bully, what she claims to be against.
Her reaction was highly unprofessional and full of false assumptions. However, I still have respect for the Medium platform and did not include her name, picture or screenshots of the emails here.
Alternatives
First, the comment should be related to the story. I did an earlier study of 1,051 comments on four political posts and discovered that only 50% were related. The percentage attached to non-political posts tends to be much higher on Medium.
So, assuming all comments are directly related to the story in some way, what are the options?
- Post no comment. That defeats the purpose of Medium if the reader has something legitimate to say. If nobody can make comments, Medium becomes like reading MSN.
- Post an incomplete comment. A little better, but that makes it harder for the author and readers to learn something from the comment and may be confusing.
- Include a link in the comment. That keeps comments shorter and gives readers the option to read more if they so desire, as long as the link relates to the original article in some way, whether it is a link to the commenter’s articles or some other post.
- Copy & Paste from linked article. This would avoid including a link to a commenter’s publication, but would break Medium’s duplication and plagiarism rules. The writer would have to include a reference to the original article, at least by title, author and date, to avoid self-plagiarism.
- Write a follow-up article referencing the author’s story. Nobody owns a topic. If the author’s story triggered an idea for a new story, it is only professional and polite to include a reference.
Her article presented the theory, mine presented how.
I considered writing such a follow-up article, but my March 2019 article What are Your Values — Write Them Down already covered many of her article’s points without her limited point-of-view. That’s the link I put into the comment that got blocked.
That would be vindictive. I decided not to do it.
Questions:
(please answer in a comment):
- Authors: Is it ok for someone to include a personal link in a comment for your story if it is directly related to the story and they’ve explained why it is there?
- Readers: Which do you prefer to see if you are reading a comment — a short comment with a link or a long comment?
If I get enough comments, even just “Yes” or “No” or “link” or “no link”, I will publish the results in a 1-minute read.
Thanks.