You choose to use Medium and the rules are clear. They also pay for a huge staff and the platform and its upkeep. The slum publications intentionally use “writers” as staff and encourage them to create the steps in the pyramid, Medium does not. At least half of the writers that write for these rag-tags don’t understand how it’s happening. Medium makes money off of our subscriptions and off of their relationships. Medium doesn’t pay out pennies for stories, you choose to accept pennies for stories because you are worried about getting paid. I don’t care how much I get paid because I didn’t come here to get paid. The pyramid starts with those who value the commercialism or consumerism of the site over the writing.