Personally, I think the change has positive and negative aspects. For example, I wasn't interested in most of the links, so I was constantly waiting for a way to better filter them. The change has the advantage, that the links don't clutter my feed anymore. However, I also will probably miss the interesting links because of that :/

As for stories, I disagree. Stories are usually quite interesting and a source of discussion, so I, for one, watch both, the questions and the stories tabs.

If I were able to add an improvement to the current system, it would be to add another "Feed" tab, which still contains everything, re-add the downvote button and create an AI, which compares my up- and downvotes to all posts and hides irrelevant content (maybe just display a slim bar with the heading, so I can still decide if it's interesting). It could even find interesting posts, based on my votes, which I usually wouldn't see, because I don't follow the node or person.

I wondered the same thing. However, I have numerous other sources where I can read about industry news, but not many I feel I can participate in. Even before the change, I never really saw a lot of discussion come from the links.

So, I, for one, welcome the change.