7 Dislikeable Habits of Medium Writers
By: Gal Mux
Tags: Writers Life, Writing Life, Writers On Medium, Ｍedium, Writers Discussion Group

Photo by Barefoot Communications on Unsplash

We writers on Medium are brought together by several factors. The fact that we love to write, to read and to earn from our writing among other reasons.

We have also developed certain habits some likeable and some not so likeable.

Here are some habits that I think are dislikeable in the community.

1. Tagging to guarantee views

Tagging someone on Medium or on any other social media is bound to guarantee you a view or a response.

You will be tagged on a story on Medium because the writer wants to bring something to your attention. After all, the story is relevant to you, etc. I don’t mind such tags.

I hate to be tagged to a story on Medium for no other reason other than to guarantee the writer of the story views. When you read the story after following the tag or mention, you realise it had nothing to do with you and the writer was only baiting you to ensure a view or read from you.

It is annoying and manipulative. Just write a great story that will attract the attention of your readers, or is relevant to them, publish it and share it widely and it will gain views that way. And genuinely.

Such habits might prevent future readers from reading your stories because you manipulated them into reading others.

2. Clickbait titles

It might be hard to determine what is clickbait and what is not.

Clickbait titles to me are those titles that promise things that they do not deliver in the body. A title may tell you why X fears Z and the reasons they give in the body are not valid or are just meh.

Also, a clickbait title is one that is exaggerated. An example is a title mentioning that someone risks jail or severe punishment, but when you read the body the punishment is on the extreme end of the crime they apparently committed and the title was constructed that way to grab the readers attention.

Clickbait titles are annoying and misleading. They promise or seem to guarantee things that the story never delivers in the body.

3. Clapping only once

I even wrote a whole article about this one.

The feedback was great and very encouraging. Apparently since in other social media platforms you ‘like' something just once, many users carried this practice over to the Medium platform.

I hope many Medium readers know that you can clap more than once on an article. Otherwise, where are they gonna take all the other claps. I do love claps on my Medium stories. I love them very much. I also give claps very generously on stories on Medium that I like.

4. Repetitive stories from one writer

I understand that having a niche is one way to succeed as a writer on Medium.

But this one has been over-exploited leading to repetitiveness which can be boring. One writer I follow only writes about succeeding on Medium. Earning money, gaining followers and views. After reading five of his stories, you realise it’s the same same things he has been writing about but in other words.

I prefer diversity rather than a niche. That is why I follow many people on Medium so that I have access to a wide variety of stories.

I don’t mind if you constantly write about the same things but from different angles or perspectives. Just don’t do the same thing over and over again. Try to keep things fresh, new and exciting!

5. Too many interlinked stories in one story

I find it very confusing to read a story that has been excessively interlinked especially when the interlinks are irrelevant to the point of the story.

I only interlink a story when it is necessary or relevant to the point of what I am writing about. And if there are other of my stories that I think are related or offer more, I add them at the bottom after already ending a particular story so that the reader can read more later without interrupting the flow of the story they are reading.

Too much interlinking disrupts the flow of the story in question in my opinion.

I understand that writers are usually attempting to put their stories out there but too much of it can be ineffective.

6. Not Following Other Writers ( or following them sparingly)

I know on social media, it is ‘cooler' to have more followers on your profile than those you follow. So this practice has been carried over to Medium. I am not into coolness though.

I follow almost 3.5 K profiles on Medium so far and I plan to follow many more with time. I even wrote a story explaining why.

How would you expect others to follow you and you won’t follow them back? Kinda selfish don’t you think?

7. Neglecting smaller writers and publications

I get it. We all want to read stories from bigger well-known writers and get published in bigger publications. The well-known writer has more credibility. Because he/she has many followers or is a well known public figure outside the platform and what they say in or outside of Medium is taken as gold.

Publishing in a bigger publication might guarantee you more reads and views too which is what we are all looking for.

But by doing this — paying more attention to bigger writers and publications, we neglect ‘smaller' writers and publications who need us to grow.

It is easier to get published in a smaller publication and it is easier for a ‘smaller' writer to follow you back, read or respond to your stories so I suggest we give them the shot they and we all deserve.

What dislikeable habits of Medium writers have you noticed?