Medium
For the love of God, Stop Thanking Me for Reading
It’s just so disingenuous
I’m just going to say it: I absolutely loathe people thanking me for reading or commenting on their post. I roll my eyes so hard when it happens that I have a near-constant headache.
I’ve written before about why I don’t thank my followers and much of the logic works the other way around too. The reader–writer relationship is a transactional one. You, as a writer, are offering a product and I am a willing consumer of that product. Classic capitalism, baby.
I hate to break it to you, but I have never, ever, read, clapped or commented on a story out of a misguided sense of philanthropy. I clicked on your article because the headline looked interesting, or promised to annoy me (everyone loves a hate-read) or both. I clapped because I liked it. I commented because I wanted to.
You are not my special little charity, nor do I believe that any level of engagement from me, with my follower count of less than 500, is going to give you any kind of a leg-up on this platform. So what exactly are you thanking me for?
People always talk about the “community” on Medium, but I assure you I’m not trying to be neighbourly. I live in London, we don’t talk to strangers unless there’s a good reason…
