Is it me or does this Clickbait smell fishy?

Guilty. I’m switching between shaking my head (SMH as the cool-kids text it) and letting out a little guilt-laden sigh.

“Butcher prepares a large fish at a market” by Quinten de Graaf on Unsplash

Prologue

“Hi, my name is Rusty.”

“Hi, Rusty.”

“I’m guilty of writing titles that smell like clickbait. I’ve been sober for four days now…”

Guilty Transgression

I read a great article recently by Jakub Ferencik, “This is a Wake-Up Call for Writers That Use Click-bait.” In this article he commented:

“I see this all the time on Medium. It is honestly starting to get frustrating. If we are to truly make a valuable platform where ideas are expressed not for the sake of views, but to actually create value, you need to stop posting ‘how to be your most productive self’ or ‘how to write like C. S. Lewis.’”

“A low shot of a person with a backpack and a camera standing on a white arrow on asphalt” by Smart on Unsplash

This truly was an “a-ha” moment for me.

I began posting articles to Medium in late-December 2017. Since then, I’ve read a myriad of articles related to being successful on this platform. I guess the question here is, “What does being successful on Medium look like (to…