Silly little issue I’ve finally given up on
As a reader I do not care about how many likes or comments a story has.
I do care about whether I’ve already saved a story to read later or have already read it.
I find myself just giving up and leaving the app altogether.
Since Medium never made a way to dismiss stories you’ve already read, I’ve always used the save feature to do so with an archived list. I think Medium even created one for everyone awhile ago.
When Medium, under the watchful eye of Tony Stubblebine, removed the little save icon from the Medium app listings on our home page I grumbled but assumed I’d get use to it.
I have not gotten use to it.
Instead I’ve resorted to reading on my computer (super annoying), or find myself just giving up and leaving the app altogether.
Maybe other people who read as much as I used to can remember the title of every story, but I can’t. And so I keep clicking on a story, reading the first sentence, and remembering I’ve already read it.
Here, anyone can share knowledge and wisdom with the world — without having to build a mailing list or a following first. —Medium About Page (emphasis mine)
Why would interaction with a story be an important metric given the goals purported by Medium? The last I checked, Medium was not supposed to be a popularity contest. I would far rather read something well written and interesting about an esoteric subject (Elle M. Athens writes some amazing horse stories that should be read, no matter how many claps or comments they have – unfortunately my love here for them will only be noticed by Elle, who will then feel obligated to read one of my stories, which was not my purpose… which is another thing we need to figure out in Medium. I wrote about what could be done to fix it. I guess it doesn’t bug people as much as they complain about it?)
Back to my point (I guess ADHD meds aren’t working that well yet), comments and likes are how other, popularity-contest based social media sites handle suggestions. Medium is supposed to be better, so why is it trying to convince you to read stories based on other people’s engagement?
If it so important, could they just condense it into one icon so we could have our “save” bookmark icon back?
