I was initially quite skeptical of the response feature on Medium. I had visions of it being used in much the same way that classic bottom-of-the-page comments are. You know how those are. I wanted nothing to do with that, nor have it near my writing. Besides, the sidebar notes seem to be working out pretty well, so why rock the boat with more stuff?

Then, some time later, I read a post that just demanded a response. So I clicked the button and started writing. I thought it would be something short, but it ended up longer than I expected. And after I published it, several good bits of feedback came and even though some of it was obviously driven from a place of passion, it was all quite civil. And I think that having to meet the bar required to hit publish on a piece helped make my words civil to the person who wrote the original article. Each round of feedback grew the article a bit. And, in the process, I honed my thinking on the subject as well as my words.

After that experience, maybe I’m a fan. At the very least, my perception of the feature has shifted from negative to positive. Thanks Medium!

P.S. I do miss being able to add “Recommended Reading” links, however. Those struck me as a really cool thing. Quite useful as end notes, even.