Hi Susie..what is your logic here? How did Medium model fail? Who exactly do you think should pay for your external views? Medium model relies on members paying + VC money. So paying members have to read your article for you to get paid. Medium requires more members to pay for all writers to be paid fairly...not non-paying members feeling entitled to getting paid when they themselves don't support the paying model.. Vocal is burning cash to attract writers. Just like Uber did at the beginning. There is no possible scenario that's sustainable in the long run.