Here I sit, tapping away on the iPhone, still not a “popular Quoran” after nearly a year in Q-Land. At the time of this writing, I have made it to 348 cherished followers and an Upvote ratio that some newbies are beating to death.

Yet, I wind up being named a “Quora Top Writer of 2017” in the March round. How does one even figure that?

I “figger” a contributing factor was being followed early on by popular Quorans like Gigi J Wolf and Rebecca Baldwin. When I was named a Top Writer, they were the two Quorans who messaged me with congratulations (besides Jonathan Brillwho notified me of the selection). They even predicted—insisted—I would be chosen a TW, while I asserted back, “That’s not going to happen, but thank you.”

Looking at my notifications, I could hazard a guess that Gigi is probably responsible for half my Upvotes, too. She is a constant source of encouragement—and hilarity, kindness and wisdom.

There are other popular Quorans who follow me, and I am really grateful for that vote of confidence, especially since that puts my answers into a larger network to be read, potentially speaking.

This is important to me for more than ego’s sake. Many of my followers are from Pakistan, India, China and Eastern Europe. Many are trying to improve their English—likely the main reason they follow me. A number of people who follow me are quite young, looking for that language help or feeling lost about essays, college, or just life. (I learn a lot from these people, too.)

What that means to me is, when my answers get more readership, my ability to help these people, even in some small way, increases. I don’t “live for” Upvote and follower counts (okay, maybe some days I do, LOL), but what those metrics tell me to some extent is what types and styles of my writing resonate with people—and which don’t. They not only tell me where my weaknesses are as a writer, but also where I can be the most beneficial to others.

To all those who get jealous of popular Quorans, please instead join me in raising a glass in toast to them. They have a light in their own right (and own Write), but a great many of them share that light with other Quorans, as in the answer to this question by Esteemed Bottom Writer (co-founder of BW with Gigi) Michael Masiello.

It’s a dark morning here, sitting amidst the screaming tornado alerts on the iPhone, but I get to enjoy the light from Q-Land, some of it coming from popular Quorans, and the rest from a multitude of others who are—like me—here to learn, ponder and share.