I understand what you are saying and I always thought it was interesting that there were so many stories about writing on Medium. For someone like me, who writes as a hobby, I love reading tips from other writers. I've been on here for over three years and I became a FOM last month. I did it to support other writers and also because I want to push myself to read and write more on the platform. I recently joined a FOM club and I understand it may sound like we are just trying to get followers or game the system. But I have found new writers that I am enjoying. I am seeing an increase in earnings but it's not solely on stories I write about Medium. It's exposing people to my other work. I think there's a lot of different ways to participate on Medium and that's what I love about it. I just wanted to share my point of view.