Writing

Are Writers Being Encouraged to Write Garbage?

Productivity is no substitute for quality when writing for the web. Or anywhere else.

Photo by Gabriel on Unsplash

The web is chock-full of terrible writing; it’s no secret. The reasons for this vary, and aren’t important to the topic of this article. What is important, however, is that bad writing is actually being encouraged on our own platform.

Don’t get me wrong: there’s a ton of great writing on Medium — more than anyone could ever read in a lifetime, and increasing every day.

But there’s been a trend in the past year or so of writers being urged by other writers to “quit trying so hard”. This particular phrase isn’t unique to any one article but has been echoed in many offerings under various guises.

Write a Medium Post in Ten Minutes
You’re Just Not That Important on Medium
Why Curation Doesn’t Matter
The Value of Ignoring Writing Guidelines
Writing is Bad for Your Brain
Poetry is Dead on Medium
Don’t Overthink Your Writing

These aren’t the titles of specific articles but rather examples of the topics one can easily find in a quick…