Agreed. Thank you for adding that point! A few days ago Medium explained the way things get added to the Top Stories feed: when anyone you follow ticks that heart… .

So the junk in that feed overwhelms things that might be of real interest.

There’s another problem with that heart. It encourages clickbaiting. Many people throw garbage up with the intention of artificially getting and keeping a high level of clicks.

So I have stopped using the like button* - and I accept the consequences of people not recommending my own stuff. (Feel free to untick the recommendation, BTW.) If I like something someone has written, I write a reply, as I am doing now. I don’t take the lazy way of recommending it; I don’t reinforce clickbaiting. Your reponse means more to me - and I hope my comments mean more to others.

• * I have also unfollowed really prolific recommenders. I am reclaiming my top stories feed by doing some serious pruning. Maybe Medium will fix that too…