It's a tricky business trying to navigate an equitable monetary share system. Short of the time-tested employee owned business model - I doubt medium (or similar sites) will discover a magic formula that inspires smiles all the way around.

Why such skepticism?

Simple.

For every monetary change implemented there's a cadre of skilled techno's poking holes via bots.

At what point do the pending changes support silo creation and growth. More $$ from followers who read your work. Right? Well - hmm... sounds like silo building to me.

I'd LOVE medium to implement the following options.

1) if you already Follow more than "X" people - my Follow button is dimmed. Why? When folks follow more than - what - 100 people - really? Are they really following me or simply praying more followers will optimize the monetary reward system.

2) Comments? Offer incentives to share hearty comments. In other words, if you’re A) a dues paying member and B) leave hearty comments — that earn additional claps — how bout a tiny little credit towards next year’s membership renewal fee.

3) Allow me to download direct contact info for my Follower's. I can access Email subscribers email addresses. Why not Follower email addys.