Medium is a pretty civil place. Probably the paywall has something to do with that.
Occasionally, though, people spout off in the comment section.
Christina Piccoli wrote about her experience with her first angry commenter. The commenter had had bad experiences with making money online and was having nothing to do with either her Road To $5k challenge or her other efforts.
He ranted for seven hundred thirty-seven words worth of comments on two separate posts. (I used a tool to count them, so my number might be a bit off, but not by much.)
What a waste of 737 words.
I'll explain why.
First, he's already a member of Medium. He wouldn't have been able to comment on those articles if he weren't because the articles were both paywalled.
He has the tools literally right in front of him to write an article. And 737 words is a perfectly fine length for an article. That's more than I usually write. Many other successful writers write that length as well.
If he put as much focus and emotion into writing an article as he did with those comments, he'd already be far ahead of lots of writers.
He felt a lot of pain. His words conveyed an angry disappointment and expressed a resigned futility.
I feel for him because I've been there.
My past venom wasn't over making money, though. It was over relationships.
I all but threw away the social part of my twenties by deliberately being angry toward people and erecting walls rather than taking the risk of letting people get to know me. In retrospect, I gave up on people because the outcomes didn't play out in real life like they did in my head.
By choice, I lived in a social environment that I controlled by force of will, but it was barren and lonely.
And others, by their choice, would deal with me but so much, if at all, and write off the relationship with me.
One poisoned network connection after another.
Many nights and weekends were spent in a small apartment room in search of online dopamine to fill the void. Many nights and weekends that could have been so much more fulfilling.
Years that I could have been more effective as a human being.
So, so many missed opportunities. My actions were even worse than if I were buried in my phone all the time because they were an affront, not merely indifferent.
What I hope the commenter realizes
Taking stock of past actions and their current consequences can be painful. I can only thank God that my awful outlook improved and is now much healthier.
And much more effective.
I hope the commenter realizes that he can be far more effective with his words than ranting in the UGC section.
Failure helps you if it encourages you to do better. It holds you back if you wallow in it.
A lot of the comment section on websites is wallowing (if it isn't outright venom).
If you've taken thirty, forty, or even fifty-plus trips around the Sun, you know too much to waste in reaction.
Get on the road and drive rather than brandish a sign and yell from the curb.
(cover photo by David Knox on Unsplash)