I’m almost certain its a way for people to rationalize unappealing behavior from people they were never truly interested in to begin with. Reading about all of the different “red flags” people find in their exes has also been very revealing. I think the number one reg flag for Medium “relationship” writers is being human. There is also an availability bias at play. Just like most people don’t write reviews for products that were satisfactory, we are getting a bulk of this reading material from the worst case scenarios people find themselves in. Imagine reading a blog that simply said, “I went on a date, and he/she was just meh, didn’t really spark.” Unless there was some profound insight buried deep within the subtext, it wouldn’t garner much attention.

The part of me that likes to put the tin foil hat on wonders if a lot of the popular writers are subconsciously exposing themselves to or manifesting these worst case scenarios so they have something to write about. When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.