I think there are some slightly toxic Medium behaviors that do also work to generate income and readership. Both the tag walls and "follow for follow" technique are two of those. I've tried both, but ultimately I think I like my articles to look as similar to how they would on actual news publications as I can manage. I include my referral link and related articles, but the tag walls aren't anything I've ever seen elsewhere besides Medium. I'd say they're probably best avoided.

Thanks for sharing, René!