I agree with most of what you have said here. You have suggested some good concrete suggestions for Medium to consider.

While we wait for medium to make improvements, I’d like to add that it is up to us as well to help shape the culture.

One simple way of doing this is to take time to read in addition to writing on medium.

For readers, it is important to comment and highlight whenever possible, instead of clicking the heart.

This is more personal and leads to an increase in conversations… which in turn helps build a sense of community and alleviates the network effect on recommends to some extent.