I've been thinking about your 80:20 rule and think Medium would say it's in conflict with their own rhetoric that we should focus on quality. Especially when the 80% engagement is used a strategy to drive views to your own stories, to be ‘successful’. That’s not a criticism. Just an observation.

Obviously, regular engagement does end up building relationships. So what might have started as growth hacking, ended up as making friends!

But I can see a possible conflict. They want people to come back to read because they love your work, not because they feel they must reciprocate.

What's not clear is exactly what *is* acceptable because you're right in-so-much as people forget we exist if we don't engage. So if using 100 comments is too much, maybe they need to review that… because people with the time, are likely to use 100 comments, especially if they have a lot on their own stories.

Responding to comments on your own stories should be exempt from any limit in my opinion.

Also, I don’t think leaving generic comments like ‘thanks’ will help you because generic comments is what the bots do. You might as well just clap and say nothing. A clap says you liked a piece, so if you have nothing to add to the conversation, you might as well save the comment for something more meaningful, when you’re inspired. :)

Just my thoughts anyway. Hope you don’t mind me being frank. In fact, I hope it’s helpful!

Personally, I’ll try to catch up with everyone once a week and just read whatever piques my curiosity in between. People still remember I exist when I call in weekly. And sometimes, I fail, but it doesn’t seem to matter that much.