Before You Comment on an Article, Read It

And read to understand, not to react

Image generated by the author over at Ideogram

Every writer on Medium (or anywhere else online) knows the feeling. You spend hours — sometimes days — crafting an article. You revise. You clarify. You break your thoughts into short, readable paragraphs. You try to be fair. You aim to be thoughtful.

And then someone jumps into the comments with a rant or a retort that makes it painfully obvious…

They didn’t actually read the article.

Maybe they skimmed the headline.

Maybe they read two sentences, got offended, and scrolled straight to the comment box.

Maybe they saw a word or phrase that triggered a memory of a different debate and decided to unload there.

Maybe they associate you with someone they know or have opinions about. In which case, you become a caricature, not a person.

Whatever the case, they respond — not to what you said — but to what they assume you said.

Or what they think someone like you would say.

To be clear, there are many very thoughtful commenters here on Medium. My illustration that headlines this article is meant to be a little exaggerated and tongue-in-cheek. Still…