[scarejunba]

Dudes, I'm not sure how to tell you this but if you want quality content without advertising, then spending money will be required at some point.

Edit: I'm rate-limited so I can't answer below. Medium pays authors through the Partner Program which is a Flattr-like interaction-based model.

[egdod]

We had plenty of good content (more, frankly) a decade or two ago when people just ran their own websites / blogs.

[lallysingh]

Does Medium pay the authors?

[tonystubblebine]

Yes. Currently 100% of the subscription revenue is shared out to the authors. Obviously, there's some venture capital paying for the rest of operations right now, and the revenue share will change. But yes, in general, the point of the subscription at Medium is to pay authors and editors to get better articles.