I consider myself a pretty damn good writer, and a lot of my readers seem to agree with me. If I'm getting penalized for replying to their comments on my stories, my comment to that is that it's not growth hacking, it's saying thank you for the kind comments..

If I'm being penalized for commenting on OTHER stories I find engaging, then sure, I'll stop doing that, if it affects my earnings.

The one thing I know for a fact is that I a story I published recently made 1/5 or so what it would have made 4 months ago, based on real metrics between two similar stories.

This is not regulating growth hacking. This is an earnings cut.

I'm not at all certain what your goals are, but Substack is starting to look like a legitimate option that I wouldn't have considered two months ago.