enjoyable read! But thought I'd add my own thoughts:

Ultimately, something I've always pointed out, is that the vast majority of people hate blogging. And dislike reading even more.

The monetary incentive here naturally brings people who make themselves believe it's something they enjoy, but they don't. Blogging was never a mainstream activity and when it becomes big, it invariably leads to people basically falling into ecommerce or some kind of product selling. Look at Medium nowadays, it's 99% chatGPT content and circle jerks to get around the algorithm to maximize profits. The content is utter trash. 80% of it is 'how to get money on medium' followed by the same points you bring up here.

Simply put, if you don't enjoy blogging for the sake of blogging, you aren't gonna get anywhere. If you do, then the above points you lay out will come naturally, I reckon