I agree. The Verge used to be a top tier tech publication, but now many of their articles come across as unnecessarily angry to me — especially since their recent redesign.
One criticism I have of the TfT/PKM space (as a member of it) is it often puts too much onus on the tool or system you use. The human element is often diminished in favor of replicating our brains in our notes.
So instead of making connections in your mind while using the TfT app as an external thought workspace, we put this extra process on top to make the TfT system a replication of our brains in and of itself. For most people, this is an unsustainable effort (myself included).
As I see it, the tool is simply the place we work out ideas and how we mentally relate them to one another. Whether a plaintext file or an interlinked set of notes is sufficient to achieve that end goal is up to the individual.
I’ve been using Reader since just after the private beta launched. It’s changed the way I read and interact with articles online. Instapaper was a favorite of mine in the early iOS days but it sadly and continually became a junk drawer. Obviously Reader still has that potential but the baked-in processing workflow has helped me abate that some.
I did a video recently on YT where I walk through the app if anyone wants to take a look before you sign up.