I think you have a lot wrong here.

Ev Williams opened Medium to try out what would happen if advertising wasn't the money source for media. Next,it isn't writers that are paying the bulk of the income. It's readers. Ev Williams is trying to find a financial model that is profitable but supports the costs of running it. In a way, we are an experiment.

Next, I'm pretty sure that the publications were shut down because, comparatively, very few people were reading them. Strictly from an outsider point of view, I thought PS I love You was a load of rubbish. Nothing heavyweight or intelligent about it.

How did it get sponsored? Why don't you ask?

I truly doubt that Ev Williams is going to shut down Medium anytime soon. He's simply changing it to see what works.

Those $500 rewards he's handing out are being done to lure people to write for Medium. He needs good writers, and that's what he is paying for. Without good writers, people will not want to read Medium. Writers are two a penny these days - readers are not.

I don't think Ev Williams wants writers who are advice givers or success marketers. It hink he wants the genuine thing - writers who make one think.