Of course, one can't "disagree" with the results of a study. The data are the data. But I do have a problem with the premise that the author owns the feed.

The author is not paying me to read the article. I am paying to subscribe to Medium, and the author assumes the risk that I won't think much of the article. If I don't like it, I should be able to explain to fellow readers, because that's how I believe this platform is most valuable to readers.

I prefer the "Report this comment" model, where an abusive or spammy "comment" can be flagged for moderators to deal with. Letting authors police their works is just Medium trying to save money. I have no problem with their choice to do that by degrading the product - it's their business - but I don't have to like the result.

I find the whole idea of "blocking" offensive and, to some extent, dangerous. My notification feed occasionally tells me that "Unknown User" has responded to a comment of mine. That means I've been blocked, which means I cannot read the "response" no matter how obnoxious or libelous or threatening it may be. Maybe I'm being doxxed. How would I know?

I can understand MEDIUM muting a pest, but if I pay my money, I should damn well be allowed to read all the articles, even those by people I think are jerks and say are jerks, because I want to know if they've learned anything by what I hope will be a chorus of comments like mine.