Well said, Hollie. There is truth to your article and it can be frustrating to see the clappers and dashers who may (or may not) be new to the platform and trying blindly to get to 100 followers. It can be such a "game" on Medium with each writer trying to claim a piece of the Medium territory.

I totally agree that the the better-quality writers care and many of them are writing from heart and for the joy of writing and not as concerned about cash and stats.

On another note...sort of...What bugs me is getting tagged blindly by writers in their articles, not to say thank you, or to acknowledge my writing, or refer to my writing prompts, or link to my own writing or pub, but when writers simply blindly tag you...to add another name to their tagging list...with the hopes that you will clap and read their stories (I'm guessing).

I admit I used to tag writers when I first started on Medium, but it was mainly to tag them to invite them to do writing prompts when I created the SWPS Summer challenge, but then I stopped doing that after I created the pub.

Now I only tag writers if I'm acknowledging or thanking them for their writing and/or support (with a link to their stories), or if my article is somehow connected to the writer, their pub, or one of their stories, or if my story features the actual writer in some way.

Sorry this is a long comment lol...I learned from one of the best...(you!) A rant on tagging rather than clap & dashers hahahah. Cheers, and thanks for writing this, Hollie. Mary:)