Summary

The article argues that the practice of giving 50 claps to every Medium story, regardless of quality, is detrimental to the reader's experience, the environment, and the writer's feedback and earnings.

Abstract

The author of the article contends that the indiscriminate practice of Medium users giving 50 claps to every article they read is counterproductive. This habit negatively affects the clapper's reading experience by skewing the algorithm to recommend more of the same type of content. It also has an adverse impact on the environment due to the additional energy used in processing multiple claps. Furthermore, it deprives writers of valuable feedback and does not contribute to their earnings under Medium's new payment system, which only counts the first clap. The author suggests that clappers should instead vary their claps based on their genuine enjoyment of the content, allowing for a more accurate reflection of preferences and better guidance for writers.

Opinions

The author believes that clapping 50 times for every article misleads Medium's algorithm, resulting in a less personalized reading experience.
It is the author's opinion that clapping more than once is wasteful for both the clapper and the environment, given that it requires additional energy.
The author argues that the practice of 50 claps puts undue pressure on other users to follow suit, which is not conducive to a healthy writing community.
The author suggests that the uniformity of 50 claps deprives writers of meaningful feedback that could help them understand reader preferences and improve their work.
The author emphasizes that under the current earnings system on Medium, clapping more than once does not benefit writers financially and is therefore unnecessary.

How 50-Clappers Are Screwing Over Writers

And themselves. And the environment.

**She usually claps for Crow’s Feet’s articles** — by Devin Alpanian on Unsplash

Many writers on Medium give 50 claps to any story they read. No matter if they barely liked it or a lot. They consider it a nice thing to do. And even more, they say it’s “the” nice thing to do.

In this article, I will prove that, while it might be a nice thing to do — in some specific circumstances, it’s generally not the nice thing to do. My arguments will convince you, and only a shadow of a doubt will remain beyond your frontal cortex.

Clapping 50 is BAD:

for the clapper,
the environment,
and the writer.

Here’s why:

It’s bad for the clapper’s reading experience

Medium writers read a lot. Once in a while, they read about Medium (some more often than others) and give 50 claps. The algorithm understands the writers like articles about Medium and gives them more such stories.

The writers then complain they see too many stories about Medium in their feeds.

Sounds familiar?

Medium’s algorithm uses the number of claps as a signal to assess the quality of the story you read in relative terms:

“When ranking stories, our system will evaluate claps users give out on an individual basis, assessing their applause for a particular post relative to the number of claps they typically give.” — Medium help

In other words, if you clap 10 for a story and 50 for another one, the algo thinks you like the latter more. If you clap 50 for everything, the algo thinks you like everything.

Please note that clapping 50 doesn’t help your favorite writers earn more. Only the first clap counts in the new earnings system.

It’s bad for the environment

This point is valid, albeit ridiculous, compared to the private jet flights we take every winter to Hawaii with our Medium earnings.

Still.

Clapping more than once means Medium’s IT systems register more information and use more energy. Also, you, the clapper, use more by clicking 50 times (or keeping your finger in place).

That’s some extra energy you could have used to save the planet. Or read my articles. Or do the dishes.

It’s bad for the other writers

There are two dimensions to this one.

First, many newbies feel pressured to give 50 claps by the 50 clappers because they don’t want to appear discourteous, even though they wish they could clap only once or twice and save their energy for something else.

Many 50-clappers will say, “Of course, you do what you want, but clapping 50 is the nice thing to do.” Translation: clapping less than 50 isn’t a nice thing to do.

Second, for the writer getting 50 claps, there’s a missed opportunity for feedback.

If everybody gives 50, the writer doesn’t know how much people liked the story.

If all the readers gave claps according to Medium’s initial idea, writers could create worksheets with all the information about claps for their articles and calculate some averages, means, quantiles, and other fun statistics to discover what type of stories they should write more.

Conclusion and clapaway

There once was a time when the number of claps influenced the earnings distribution, but it’s not the case anymore. In this respect, clapping 50 is a vestigial¹ reflex, unnecessary in the new system where one clap is enough to score the writer some engagement points.

But of course, you do as you want.

If giving 50 claps makes you happy, go for it. Just don’t pressure other writers to do the same. Remember that writers who don’t clap 50 times aren’t necessarily rude. Some have valid reasons to do it.

PS: I’m a ninja one-clapper.

How One-Clappers Are Screwing Over Writers

For the love of the claps

muddyum.net

PPS: ¹ Fancy word, amirite?

PPPS: Are you looking for a sentence to highlight to give me some engagement points?

Highlight this:

Smillew is a Medium artiste. As such, he lies and begs for money on ko-fi (and for subscribers on Substack to save the planet).