Great question.
First of all kudos to you for taking time to write and educate about how the earnings are affected.

Personally, even though I am a member for the last two years and a recent friend of medium, here is what is my current mindset :

What is not in my control:
I cannot control the algorithm and the payment responses.
I cannot control who is reading to learn and appreciate and ask questions

I can control what I want to write by sharing my experience.

I can control which article I want to read, engage, clap and highlight. Sometimes I may feel like just highlighting the paragraph that I could relate to. I may forget to clap or respond. I think that is OK

I think overall it is better to have a positive, learning mindset in order to enjoy reading and writing here.

Once again thank you for the analysis
#BORC