I Won’t Clap For You If

I’ll give everyone a chance on Medium except if you try to game the system.

I’m happy to clap for readers in topics I don’t usually follow. You don’t have to be a Top Writer to get my attention. I’ll be a fan even if you haven’t mastered the English language, or your writing skills aren’t perfect. As long as you teach me something important or make me laugh or spark my imagination, I’m on board.

I’ll read long articles, short articles, poems, and listicles. I’ll try subjects I know nothing about if you give me a good hook. In other words, I’m open-minded, and I’m happy to give newcomers a chance.

But there are some articles I won’t read and some members I’ll block from my feed. I care about Medium and the writers who care about their craft.

This isn’t a social media platform that rewards trolling the members. I do my best to play nice and so do the friends I’ve made here. But investing in Medium takes time, and time is a precious commodity for me. I haven’t got much of it left, and I have other gigs calling to me. I won’t let you waste it. I’ve made some rules for myself about where I’ll spend my claps and where I won’t. Which writers deserve my time and which writers don’t.

I won’t clap for you if you’re a bot.

I’ll report you to Medium if you’re not a real person and use someone’s identity to get on the platform.

I won’t clap for you if you plagiarize my work or the work of another real writer.

Sure, we all inspire each other and jump onto trends. But lifting word for word pieces of someone else’s hard-won prose? Or, publishing an article identical to one you just saw gaining traction on your feed? Without giving the original article time to gather steam? That’s just wrong. You’re a writer. Write your own words. Otherwise, I won’t clap.

I won’t clap for you if you try to ruin the reputation of a person with unfounded negativity or baseless claims.

Pro tip: Negativity breeds. Usually, contempt for the spreader of that s**t. Medium has lots of writers. But some of us are a closed-knit group. Word gets around, and we won’t do you any favors if you try to take down a writer without hard evidence of wrong-doing. Just saying.

I won’t clap for you if you troll me.

This isn’t Facebook or Twitter. Don’t leave links to your articles in comments on my posts just to get followers. I work hard for my engagement, and I didn’t do it by pasting links to my articles all over Medium as a PR stunt.

I don’t write to give you a platform to promote yourself!!!!!

It’s not against Medium TOS, but ask any ethical writer and they will tell you it is VERY bad form to paste links to your articles in other writers’ comments. Even if they relate to the subject. Just say you’ve also written on the topic and people can go look up your profile.

If you don’t stop, I will call you out publicly because I don’t care if I embarrass you.

I won’t clap for you if you text me your articles.

Medium is the platform; my messaging app is not!

I won’t clap if you harass other writers.

Ever heard of the #Metoo movement? Yeah, well, stuff get’s reported. It also gets published in groups and articles. So bad behavior of all kinds doesn’t go unnoticed.

I have a short list of writers who have contacted writers outside of Medium and given them grief. I’ve seen the receipts. I don’t care how good their writing is I won’t ever clap for them.

Other than that, I’m good.

You may think bad behavior goes unnoticed, and you can get away with it to advance your career. Let me tell you, word gets around. Writers have been kicked out of Medium for bad behavior because of complaints. I’ll just leave that right there.

You may have your own writers who raise your ire. Feel free to note in the comments the types of writers who cross the lines of courtesy, decency, and ethics. Some people do it because they don’t know any better, and a warning is sufficent. Let’s hope that’s the case and they just need a heads up.

I’m an editor and writer on Medium with Top Writer status in Writing, Psychology, This Happened to Me, Food, Advice, and Cooking. I’m also an editor for the publication, Rogues Gallery. I’ve published 55 titles on Amazon and edit fiction and nonfiction for private clients. If you’d like to hire me as your editor, please contact me here. If you’d like to read more of my stories and tips for success on Medium, click here to sign up for my newsletter. I’ll make sure you don’t miss a word. Thank you for reading.