Thank you for sharing this valuable piece and expressing your honest thoughts. So many new writers are feeling deep frustration with Medium’s shift toward commercial priorities, often leaving beginners' aspirations overlooked. If I were in the CEO’s shoes, I’d reconsider and remove these limiting rules—policies like this seem to miss the heart of what makes a platform thrive. To me, they reflect a scarcity mindset that, in my five decades of business experience, bring no true growth or lasting success.