The Network Stream on the new Medium home page

Two suggestions

Remove non-story “responses” from the network stream

I know that on Medium, everything is a story. Except when it isn’t. Please build some recognition for a quick response that people type in when they really love a piece of writing and believe it deserves more than a green heart. A quick guide (I’m sure you could come up with a better heuristic) would be that if it’s a response less than 50 words, doesn’t have an image and is all in the same font style, then it’s an appreciative comment. That would cover 99%. These are never intended to be read as a story on their own and I fear they are taking up valuable real-estate on my network stream where actual stories could be residing. If anything, perhaps the stream should highlight the story the comment was written for.

Remove my own stories from the network stream

I know what I wrote. I know how to find it. Please don’t show my own stories in my own network stream. I published a poem on the Manchester tragedy yesterday, as well as two appreciative comments on stories I liked. All three are wasting space in my network stream. Given the stream isn’t never ending, that space is extremely valuable. I don’t need my own stories in my stream. I’d much rather you have my stories show up on other people’s network streams!