You are right about the engagement, but no one was making a huge payout except for the chosen few writers. Back then, less than 10% of the writers made more than $100 a month.

I was here in 2020 and it was terrible. My best month was $14.32 and I was active. Nearly all of the writers from back then are no longer writing on Medium because all the earnings went to a few writers that Medium used as a marketing tool to make it seem like anyone can write and earn thousands of dollars each month.