We’re on a very similar line.

Comments are a necessity, as it is following. The problem is that I only do that when I honestly want to do that, and this is extremely limiting, here.

Also, Medium digest is quite poor. But I have other examples about random Medium algorithms, so it’s not a surprise. They are probably just not particularly interested in good algorithms. They are more interested in the editorial work and pushing the featured stories.

Your idea about the introductory story touches an important issue. Medium lacks a serious home page for the author (I’m about to publish an article on that). You are left with 160 chars to describe yourself, and with no customization of your profile. You have no showcase for your stories, or at least the possibility to feature more than one of them. Medium is clearly interested in keeping your stories in the “community” stream, that may be a good thing for Medium but not particularly good for the authors in search of a home for their writing.

The “about me” page goes with the “recap” article. I though a lot about a recap article too but I did not go further because I don’t think the story itself can be of much interest. I saw other authors experimenting on that but I also saw them withdraw. You have only one story to feature. One shot. Best to use it for an actual story, in my opinion. Same for the “about me”.

But the “about me” page may be more interesting. And even more with also a recap inside. I don’t know. At first sight I think the featured slot is better spent with an actual story. But it’s interesting to reflect on this, maybe just to have that page to link to. I’ll leave you my email as private note, if you want to elaborate on this.