You articulated the situation so well. I was also disappointed when Scott inaccurately used the spam and scams to low earnings. Some people got convinced as he wrote it in an emotional style but critical thinkers did not buy into it as the logic was faulty and also Medium's actions did not align what he said. That was the reason I stopped writing on Medium until it fixes this unfair payment reduction to writers and also transparently shares the issues and plans. I feel like the truth is twisted. These spam and scam issues existed before introduction of 77 countries so using it as a scapegoat cause more confusion and division. Thank you for adding clarity to this burning issue.