I'm always amused when independent writers, who want to be judged solely on the merits of their work, on a piece by piece basis, defend editors who want to unionize and protect their jobs regardless of piece by piece quality (or financial realities).

Medium publications begin with good intentions, but end up nasty little cliques in the end.

Those cliques can bestow huge visibility for writers who get pieces accepted. Expectations lead to resentments. Both for the writers and the editors expecting to buy a house based on clicks.

My advice to any writer is ignore all this. You write alone, you die alone. Distribution is a business. Maybe Medium will work for you in the future, maybe it won't. There are no guarantees. There are no "good" people or "bad" people. You go where you can reach your audience. Don't make it personal. It's a waste of time.