Not everything is a STORY, Medium

I’m really kind of frustrated with how Medium trying to squash the basic structure of interaction, which is “call and response,” in an attempt to storify everything on the site.

I know it doesn’t LOOK that way to most users, but for those of us who A) have tried to find a way to export our stories and not our comments on other’s stories and B) who need to reference what we’re responding to in order to respond, the browser (website) version of Medium is truly bizarre. This latest update to comments, oh, I’m sorry, “RELATED STORIES” (wtf) has left me seriously frustrated.

Quite frankly it’s always been hard to follow comment threads, oh, I’m sorry, “RELATED STORIES” not because new comments are confusing, but if a friend posts an interesting statement, trying to follow links back to the original story is often futile. It’s like they are trying to herd you into responding to what they want you to respond to, and not allow you to track back to the initial post….oh, sorry, story. Heaven forbid anything happens that isn’t a story.

Sure, Medium is trying hard not to be just another online forum like Reddit with threaded comments and dead-end communities. I see what the goal is here, and I like that goal.

What I do not like is the feeling that I am being coerced into doing things Medium’s way, or not at all. No, I can’t look at the stories or comments (whups, “RELATED STORIES”) I’m trying to respond to, because, I guess, that would…oppress my story? I don’t know. What I do know is that now in order to respond thoughtfully I have to have two tabs open, one for my draft, and one for the story I’m responding too, so I can reference it. Pain in my arse.

I hope the developers get over their odd aversion to things like “linked content” and “comments” and stop trying to storify everything everywhere. That’s just not needed.