I don't think this is the case.. unless you use the friends link, which only comes with the FoM membership now (used to be everyone had it on the $5/month plan). People got three free reads per month if they didn't want to pay. In summer 2023, Medium took that away, no more free reads - except via friends links. Which means the only way people read free is if the writers are coughing up $15/month to use their friend links.

Anyway ... I love this piece and I share your sentiments about so much of this. I'm hanging out here because my FoM goes to September, plus I said I'd do FLF prompts every week for Arpad when he took it over. But I'm not particularly enjoying being here anymore; the energy feels so awful. 💜