Clapping Etiquette is a thing on Medium?

A reader’s discovery of the politics of clapping

There are a lot of stories on Medium. Different subjects for pretty much anyone interested. It’s a great platform for those who love to read to find a home and search out stories that pique their interest.

You want to read someone’s view on any subject that interests you. It’s there.

You want a step by step to how to do… Anything? Boom. You are in luck. There are multitudes to choose from.

You want to read poems. Plenty to be found. Guaranteed you will find the style you prefer.

Want a quick short story to make you cry or laugh. Medium has your back.

You like someone’s Dear Medium diary posts. Oh dear Reader you have come to the right place.

You get the picture.

Medium is the perfect, well, medium, for new readers. All for five bucks a month. That’s a pretty good set up.

The new reader excited at the prospect of so much reading at the tip of their finger signs up for the trial period. Downloads the app, and get’s ready to tests out the platform, eager to deep dive into words.

They begin. Click onto the home page and Voila, they are spoon-fed a variety of stories good and bad.

Seeing a title that jumps out to them they begin to read. Does the reader finish at the end of the story? Depends on the content. Does it keep the reader’s attention? Is it engaging? Is it well written? It will be different for every reader.

That is the beauty of writing on Medium. You have the opportunity to attract many different readers. People who actually read your work.

Golden.

As the reader navigates Medium they will become familiar with the clapping icon.

The reader sees the article has hundreds, maybe thousands of claps. They have two thoughts. Surprise. They didn’t think that story warranted that amount of claps, or wow, you are so right thousands of clappers. That story was mind-blowing.

You know what they do next, you see it happening. They reach their hand over the clap icon and you got it, clap.

Once.

They clapped once because logic says that’s what you do when you like something. You stand and clap and say “Good Job”. Sometimes you pump your fist in the air and yell “YES! Nailed it. You rocked that story. You are now someone I want to read again”. Click Follow.

That one clap.

What the new reader doesn’t know yet is that one clap means something else in the deep dark world of “other”.

What is the “Other” you may ask?

It is the other side of Medium. The writers. Well, some writers.

What the reader doesn’t realize is there is a subculture beneath the clap. An entirely different entity that the new reader isn’t aware of.

The reader’s clap is based on his general knowledge of what a clap represents.

Congratulating someone on a job well done.

Reality is why would they think it anything else?

The very definition of clapping is to applaud someone or something. Why would anyone think anything else?

Well reader you would be wrong.

In the “Other” that one clap you left on every deserving article was not the compliment though. In fact, it was entirely the opposite.

Unbeknownst to you, you just knocked this sensitive writer down.

Yes, you read it right. There is a war of the Claps going on. Your one clap is, in the alternative universe the liking to a sardonic slow-motion clap. You know that guy. The one at the back of the room clapping one measured clap at a time with a look of smug contention.

You got it. You, with your good intentions, are now that guy. Who knew? You know that saying, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”

Yup. That is you.

But fear not, dear Reader. Do not be faint of heart. You do not need to be part of that world. This alternate Universe where a clap is not a clap. This world where up is down and down is up. You don’t have to be part of that space. Stay where you are. You are good where you are. Great in fact. So great are you, that you are changing lives for those very writers and it isn’t with the click of a clap.

You reader, read their writing. You took YOUR time and spent it reading their work. In doing so you gave that writer something invaluable.

Without you, there would be no Medium. There would be no claps at all.

Continue reading. Writers need your eyes to eat up their words more than they need 1000 claps. They need you engaged, satisfied, angry, or elated. Any emotion is a clap.

Reading to the end a standing ovation.

Here are 50 claps for making dreams come true and changing lives.