OK, I sent them an email too. This is ridiculous... Here's what I wrote them (cuz I have nothing to hide):

Let me get to the point. The new feed you're experimenting with, is a disaster. I'm a software developer who works a lot with UX designers and also have been a Medium writer for 8 years. This "feature" is a bug and huge one at that. Let me explain what your new design led me to do. In order to have a feed where I can see my favourite writers, I unfollowed most of the publications, and about 300 other users, many writers themselves. It was the only way to get some of my favourite writers to resurface. Users need a way to quickly see which of their writers recently released a post. Sure, you want people to discover others too but don't dismiss the loyalty value and recurring readers. If this change becomes permanent, I can absolutely see some Medium users coming up with third-party solutions like Chrome extensions and Safari plugins just to get back their favourite writers somehow. 90% of the time I agree with the site's improvements, but this one is a flat-out horrible decision. There are much better ways to do this and I am happy to ideate (free of charge even) with your team if you need help.

I didn't wanna just criticise, but also offer help. The ball's in their court.