The introduction of the "Lists" feature made this SO much easier for me. The default list is where any article I tap the little tag on ends up. I created a list called "Responses".

Once I read an article that I want to respond to, I put it in that list. I have about 20 in there now and over 400 in my reading list. I have some SERIOUS catching up to do!

As of the time writing this, it's been 26 months since I joined Medium. I've published about 130 articles and written over 900 responses. I now have about 450 followers.

When I first joined Medium, it was more for reading than writing. I still prefer to write short responses than longer articles.