Commenting one time on a story helps the writer. Medium changed its metrics and it still looks for all three: a full read, a highlight and a comment as their “metric” that shows the reader was fully engaged. Does it always translate to that no—for the reasons you indicate and yes I agree, many readers don’t ever feel like commenting and don’t have to. I’m married to a voracious reader who would never comment on a single piece—whether on medium or not. It’s just not in his DNA.

You make a valid point. But I wanted to share, I will comment once on every well written article.

As for the spammy comments, I give them a generic : thank you…to let them know their comment did nothing for me. Or I may ignore it.

I generally reciprocate but those writers get ignored: including the ones who summarize my article in their voice or AI. That one gets under my skin the most!