I've been a lot less active here over the past few years, but not because of money. I thought the pandemic and working from home would give me a bit more time for writing. The opposite seemed to happen. Also, I've been more focused on my novels, so I was writing less short form fiction and writing articles. And finally my wife's health was failing, and she passed away about 10 months ago. All this has taken my mind away from Medium (both reading and writing). Every so often I get an idea and publish a piece here, but they are few and far between.

More generally, people do tend to come and go, in all areas of life. I'm sure a lot of those who were here when I started on Medium have moved on to other things, but there are undoubtedly new voices coming in all the time. That's just what people do.

I never saw Medium as a primary money-maker. I've generally made enough to pay for my subscription, and sometimes a bit more. (I had maybe 2 or 3 months above the $75 level in my several years here.) But I don't worry much about that. I like to think of it as a way of getting my name out there and garnering a few new readers for my books. Also, it's my first point of publication for short stories, some of which will be gathered into collections. So it has utility for me even if it's not much of a money-maker.