You analysis of what it takes to prosper on Medium is insightful and, I believe, correct. I totally misunderstood when I started. It's as much a pyramid scheme as it is a writers forum. I am a retired newspaper columnist, a job in which I was encouraged to choose and expound on diverse topics, even tell stories. On Medium, that earns me about 2 bucks a month, but I no longer care. To quote Joni Mitchell, I'm not interested in "stoking the star maker machinery" of this mostly masturbatory medium.