I've also been trying to figure out how the algorithm works, and how writers become popular here. I think the factors you point to are relevant. The third one, about the quid pro quo psychology may be most responsible for the drop in your case.

But honestly, I think subject matter is crucial. It's a question of knowing the audience. Who are most readers on this platform? What are the demographics? I did a little research and found that most are young, white, neoliberal professionals who prefer to read about uplifting subjects, such as startup companies, technology, and self-improvement. There are exceptions, but generally, because Medium naturally competes with lower-brow websites like YouTube, Tiktok, and Facebook, authors who succeed the most here write disposable, feel-good content.

That excludes me becaue I prefer to write hard-hitting articles on philosophy, religion, history, and politics. That choice of subject matter drastically reduces my potential audience. If I seem to have more followers, it's because I may have started writing earlier, or I write more often, which snowballs into some support.

You're writing about changing democracy and ending all political parties. But what are the prospects that that's going to happen? Why would a not-so popular writer on Medium be able to reform democracy? Even if your goal were laudable and your reasoning were sound, when you're so up-front and blunt about it, it may come across as a little deranged or crackpot. At the very least, it's subversive, whereas again, most readers here seem to want light-hearted, dimwitted content in between clicking away to TikTok or Pornhub.

My honest advice to you would be this: if you were still interested in trying to become more popular on Medium and maybe trying to earn a few more dollars, maybe you should reframe how you present your subject matter. Instead of claiming you want to reform democracy, you could keep that in the background and focus on criticizing democracy as it currently functions. But even a focus on democracy may seem bland. How would the problems with democracy impact the subjects that most readers here care more about, such as business, pop culture, and the creator economy?

Of course, in offering this advice, it's really just the blind attempting to lead the blind. I have no expertise in writing viral articles on Medium. But I do suspect that the choice of subject matter itself shouldn't be overlooked.