It made me cry like a crocodile

Why Are Writers So Mean to Each Other?

I try not to block people, but sometimes it’s hard.

Here’s an exchange I witnessed in the comment section of an article last week. For context, you will need the title of the story. It’s called “Avoid Depression — Write Comedy!” (link at the end). It’s a sensitive retelling of a writer’s journey through depression and comedy.

Someone I prefer not to name here left the following comment:

“Depressing title. Didn’t read.”

I don’t know if he was trying to be funny or speaking his truth. I found the reply harsh and clumsy, but I tried to look at it empathically and moved on.

The author of the article did not do that. His reply was cruel.

“Was your name on it?”

The implications were so wild that I wondered briefly if this was all an elaborate joke to trigger people like me into writing an article about the whole thing and bring some views to the author’s content. But Niccolo Machiavelli is long dead, and only he could think of such a cunning plan.

Thankfully, the commenter took it light-heartedly and jokingly told the author to promote him next time.

“That’s a good idea. Add my name in your future titles. 👌”

I thought it would stay at that, but the article’s author wasn’t ready to give up. I can only guess he was having a bad day because I can’t imagine someone would be so mean just for fun. Here’s what the author replied.

“Delete your name from medium would be better!”

That was SAVAGE!

I was so shocked that I almost reported him. Thankfully, I found the strength to stay compassionate and moved on to other stories by kinder writers. Later, I understood I was still thinking about the author’s spitefulness, and I wrote this article to help me process my feelings.

My takeaway from all this

We all have bad days. I’m the first to acknowledge that.

Writers open their hearts to their readers, and this act of bravery can put them in a very vulnerable state. Commenters and authors should be aware of it and stay compassionate when exchanging views.

Here’s hoping writers stop being jealous of the boost the others got and shower each other with love instead.

I decided not to share the names of the people involved in this story, but I realized you might be curious and agreed to share a link to the original article. Please remember to be kind and respectful to all involved should you add a comment to the thread.

Smillew is an artiste who writes on Medium. One day he will stop. Read his stories while you can.