I must be exactly the kind of writer Tony wants to encourage because in August I made twice as much for similar output (one measly story), as in ~40 bucks. This month I'm back down to ~20. Without my 8 years of back catalog I wouldn't get squat.
BUT, when I first joined Medium in November 2015 (ignore what my profile says. I quit and rejoined somewhere along with way) there was no "partner program" and thus no money to be made. My subjective impression is that the writing was superior then. Little in the way of self-promoting "self help" and boost-your-business bullshit. Amazing fiction and personal essays. The only motivation was the love of writing, and the dopamine rush of ❤️s (one per customer!) and responses.
All that said I'm truly grateful to publications like Tantalizing Tales that do so much to promote writers' stories.