There is little doubt that money ruined Medium. It attracted the cash-grabbers who write "get rich quick writing on Medium" nonsense that get rich quick dreamers eat up.

Arbitrarily changing the rules for payment every year only seems to make things worse.

Doing anything creative for money is way harder and more discouraging than it should be. It is often better to keep it just a hobby and enjoy it purely for the love of doing it.

I found Elle's latest newsletter very appropriate:

https://ellegriffin.substack.com/p/future-of-fiction?r=3c4zu&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=twitter