Would you recommend this article?

Go on. Hit the green button.

So it seems more and more writers on Medium are taking the time to ask others to hit the recommend button.

Hope you liked this piece! If you did, could you do me a solid and hit the recommend button down there? It would mean a lot to me.

If you found value in this post, please click the green RECOMMEND button below. THANK YOU!

Did you get something out of this article? I will love you until the end of time if you give the recommend button a cheeky tap. Thanks.

Is this really necessary? Sure, I get it. You want to expand your readership. (We all do.)

You want to give new people the opportunity to find you, follow you, add you on Twitter and visit your website. (We all do.)

You want your audience to return time and again to that ever-gushing font of knowledge that is you with an unquenchable thirst for more. (We all do!)

But asking in big bold letters isn't going
to make a blind bit of difference.

At least not to this reader.

If the writing is strong enough, if your voice is consistent and clear, if the subject is interesting enough and you come across as passionate and well informed, then of course I’ll recommend your post. I’ll do it automatically, without even thinking. You don’t need to beg.

Let your work speak for itself.

Now, do I end this article with the obvious chance to ask YOU to recommend it? Or do I go out on a sly, somewhat “have-my-cake-and-eat-it” kind of a note, where I surreptitiously suggest you recommend it without being as gauche as actually writing it…?

Oh, what the hell. If it pushed your buttons, you push mine.