Great article Benny. I started on this platform in 2016, and I was just thrilled to get a hundred views then! My payment was the joy of having people read what I wrote. I do believe writers should get paid for their work, and when Medium became successful to the point of paying us, it made writing for the platform even better! Like all things online, algorithms change and shift, and I have no doubt Medium is working right now on better ways to get our articles read and paid for. I think your goals are right on target, and I look forward to reading more from you.