I’ve just deleted all 34 responses I made on various articles this morning. | by...

I’ve just deleted all 34 responses I made on various articles this morning. Some of them took time to write, and I think they might have been useful to the writers. I’m truly upset about having to delete them. It also means I won’t be responding to comments or posting comments on the work of other writers anymore. I am really, really upset. I love reading, and this morning was a particularly good time for me. I’ve been reading flat out for about 2 hours, and I’ve still got a good few articles to wade through. I’m actually close to tears.

Medium has seen fit to give me statistics on how many reads my comments have had. I don’t care. I don’t want to know. Strange as it may seem to some writers, my ego is not involved in my writing. I write strictly for money because I have no other way of earning, and I would be destitute without my writing income. With a few weeks to go before I turn 70, that is a very scary thought. (Asperger’s has kept me very poor for most of my life.) The other reasons I write are that I’m desperate to save the world from climate change, and the foolish decisions that are driving us to destruction. The third reason I write is that it’s my way of talking and communicating with others. I cannot stop writing — my brain is too busy.

Unless Medium is now paying us for comments, and it has not indicated that it does, it messes with my statistics, and that upsets me. I don’t want information that is not relevant. It really doesn’t matter whether someone reads my comments or not. I don’t care that much. I just had fun writing them or venting or something. Sometimes people even reply to me, and then we have a conversation.

Unless Medium is now paying us for commentary, it means that it’s best for me not to comment. I can’t begin to explain to you how upset I am about this development. It effectively means I can’t comment without screwing up my stats.