The Day I Tried to Meet My Medium Clap Quota

You Can Clap for 150 Medium Posts a Day. So I Did Just That.

When you’re trying to stay sane during a pandemic, it’s good to have a project. So when I read that you’re allowed to clap for 150 Medium posts within a 24 hour period?

I decided to do just that.

I’m a big reader and I’m newly retired, so I have plenty of reading time. But I usually read a variety of things. Books. Magazines. Tweets. The New York Times. Cereal Boxes. And, of course, Medium.

For one day? I would read nothing but Medium. If I spent an entire day on the platform could I hit that 150 clap limit? And what would happen if I did?

The doorbell would ring and I’d open the door to a pack of cheering curators holding balloons?

Ev Williams would appear on my screen and shout, “That’s enough, Roz! Get a life!”

A trap door would open up under my feet & I’d fall into a pool full of dolphins?

The little clapping hand would give me the finger?

I couldn’t wait to find out.

To reach my goal, I vowed to read nothing that took longer than 5 minutes. And I planned to read a shit-ton of haiku.

So what was the day like?

It was fun! The only problem I have with Medium is that there is so much good stuff I never get around to reading. I want to read everybody who reads me. I want to check out lots of new writers. I want to read every post in the tag HUMOR, and every recent post in all my favorite publications.

And, of course, I want to read a shit-ton of Haiku.

And for one wonderful day — I did all of that!

I had to stay up past my bedtime to reach my goal. It was after midnight when I finally clapped for my 150th Medium post! And what happened?

Nothing.

Okay, so maybe I’d counted wrong. I read and clapped for a few more posts.

Still nothing.

Was the 150 clap limit just another a Medium Myth?

I queried Medium Support. They responded that the 150 clap limit was real.

So what was going on here?

I finally figured it out a few days later, when I clapped for an essay on my smart phone, then noticed that moments later, those claps vanished.

I tried again. I clapped for the post, 50 times. Those claps evaporated too.

That was the problem! I’d read and clapped for many of those 150 posts on my phone. I’m guessing that after I clapped, those claps had evaporated too.

Which means that they didn’t count toward my 150 post total.

So I did learn something from the experiment. I didn’t learn what happens when you clap for 150 posts. I learned that if I clap for your latest Medium Masterpiece on my phone, it’s not going to count.

So was this a failed experiment? Not at all! I did learn something. And since I want my claps to count, what I learned was valuable.

And? Because it’s good to have a project, tomorrow I’m planning to get up early and spend the day burning through (and applauding) Medium Haiku.

I can’t wait to see what happens when I reach 150.

Writing Coach and editor-for-hire Roz Warren, who writes for everyone from the Funny Times to the New York Times, can help you improve and publish your work. Drop her a line at [email protected]. (That’s Ros with an “s,” not a “z.”)