Medium Is Where I Live; It’s Also My Happy Place
But can I make a suggestion?
The current method of grouping responses with stories creates a somewhat cluttered list and can make it difficult to quickly count or categorize stories. However, it also makes it apparent that I (and I’m sure many others) spend as much time reading and responding as I do writing. I would think responses are important to Medium, and enhance both the writer and reader experience.
I wish stories could be isolated from responses in some way when we look at our history of posting articles.
My responses are sometimes long and I put as much thought into them as the articles I submit for publication. I receive a lot of encouraging and helpful responses to my pieces, too. Those I treasure like gold.
Like many other Medium writers, I spent a great deal of time reading others’ work. There’s no publication in today’s world, as far as I can tell, that offers the wide and diverse opportunity to read and learn like Medium does. I’m sure the platform owners realize what a rich reading experience they are providing.
Only on Medium can I read an article about what it’s like to be an obese traveler and next read an amazingly informative and well-researched piece contributed by a neuroscientist. The knowledge, wisdom and experience shared on Medium blows my mind. Medium is both an autodidact’s classroom and great entertainment. Almost any topic in which one is interested can be found.
Whether I’m in the mood for serious reading, laughter, or simply something I can identify with, Medium can supply it. The platform rocks. I’m glad it exists and that I discovered it.
My suggestion is it would be helpful to somehow credit people for responding. Readers are the lifeblood of Medium and it seems encouraging them in some way would be beneficial.
I think responses should be rewarded. I don’t want Medium to go broke. Heavens no! It has become a vital part of my life and allowed me to find both an amazing outlet for my writing and discover writers I may not have found elsewhere. I read everything certain writers offer, simply because they are good, and find gems every day.
I don’t know the solution, but there should be some kind of credit or compensation for a response that is more than a sentence or two and constitutes an essay in itself.
After all, Medium and it’s writers are nothing without readers. When readers spend time thoughtfully responding, they add value.
Even if there were some way to identify in their profiles the writers who frequently respond, it would help. It doesn’t necessarily need to be financial compensation. It could just be something like adding “responsive reader” or some kind of extra weight to profiles of people who are frequent responders.
Encouraging reading and responding is advantageous to not only writers, but to Medium, too. Without feedback, writers can feel like we’re sending our work into a void, and that makes responses important to us.
Rewarding responses could improve what’s already great.
By the way, I joined the Partnership Program in October although my profile shows February since I had to change my method of payment because a credit card number changed. My profile is now reflecting I just joined. Annoying.
I want to say that since I started there hasn’t been a month when I didn’t make well over the cost of my membership. So I wouldn’t mind if the membership price went up 50-cents or a dollar if it meant credit could be given for good responses. It would increase reader participation and I don’t see how that could be a bad thing.
Anyway, that’s my suggestion and I hope it is considered. Either way, thank you for creating this outlet for great writing and reading opportunities.
