If publishing houses only published "valuable" content, many of them would go broke.

Many years ago, I heard an axiom that publishing houses need to publish a few fluffy and profitable pieces to justify a project they really like and will not sell well.

From what I have experienced on Medium, my work will be relegated to the "will not sell well" category. That is probably a full bin of manuscripts.

My focus group of Medium contributors see no value in an alternative democracy. Maybe they have seen through my propaganda mechanism.