I'd be glad to respond to your first paragraph if you could send me your email address (janiceharayda AT janiceharayda DOT COM) and promise not to quote me.

Medium is such a maw of unfounded speculation that I try to avoid it and to limit what I say here to straight reporting on known facts (here's what people said on Medium Day) or my opinion the known facts (killing the Top Writer tags was good). It can be a fine line, but I try to walk it.