Claps, Compliments, and Writing on Medium

From an old pro…

Me. Own photo. Pacific Beach. San Diego.

Writers

Every now and then I read an article by someone on Medium about the importance of claps. I am told that one clap is an insult, and that one shouldn’t bother to clap if one is only going to give one clap. I’ve read it often enough to want to say something about that point of view.

Here are some points I want to make about that one clap.

• Readers aren’t writers. They read only. They don’t know about fifty claps. If someone gives only one clap, it means that they are a reader. They’re not interested in writing, and they don’t read articles about writing.
• Readers only follow writers who write things that interest them. They are not interested in following people in order to be followed back.
• Readers do not need to be followed back. Why would they be? They’re not writing anything on Medium. Nor are they earning on Medium. They are paying to read the work of writers who write the sort of thing that interests them.
• Readers are not on Medium to be part of a community.

Here is a point I want to make about adulthood.

• Adults don’t need applause in order to keep going. This is what human maturity is about. It is children who need to constantly…