Thank you for sharing your perspective. It’s one I hadn’t considered. Personally, I always thank people for reading because I appreciate them spending precious time on my work when there are so many other articles to read or things to do.

Speaking for myself, there’s nothing remotely fake or disingenuous about my choice to do this. I respect time. It is irreplaceable. The most valuable commodity we have and I choose to acknowledge that out of respect — and good manners, as I was taught.

I see a fellow Canadian has mentioned that we do this, too. Yes, there are plenty of rude Canadians in the world but we’re known for being polite and I’m certainly in that camp.

Plus, if you’re in the MPP, you get paid for our time spent in your work. Seems a reasonable, respectful and polite thing to acknowledge that. We could just all ignore you so you earn nothing.

If you are so offended or angered (choose your own word that works) by the interaction of others who want to show appreciation for your work (and yes, there are some who interact for more selfish reasons), perhaps you should just write on a platform that has zero connection with the audience.

You don’t have to be on Medium. I presume no one is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to write here. It’s a social media platform as well as a blogging platform. If you can’t cope with the social part, perhaps you might want to consider going elsewhere to write instead of insulting so many well-meaning people who are using this platform the way it’s intended.

It doesn’t seem like this platform is a very good fit for you (massively understated). And I’ll be sure never to waste my time reading anything else of yours again. I’d rather help someone earn a bit of money who doesn’t insult me for wanting to say thank you.