I agree with much of this, but at the same time I can’t help thinking, why should those of us that are creative writers have to jump through extra hoops? I started writing here in 2017 as well and as you mentioned the attention writers got back then seemed a lot more equitable then it is now. Some of the best writers from back then left Medium because of this. I wouldn’t be surprised

And as I’ve been saying for a while, if Medium really cared about us it would have an in-house pub dedicated to literature. I do hope things get better for all the writers here, but if I can’t earn enough to even cover the monthly $5 then I will probably leave as well.