I agree, it's better to encourage newer writers with lots of views and earnings, as long as their writing is good quality. Writers who have been here a long time should probably not be relying too much on Medium for their earnings anyway. For example, Tim Denning earns money selling his courses, and Zulie Rane seems to earn a lot of money from freelance writing. If you've been writing for Medium for 5 years and you're still relying on Medium for a big chunk of your income, it's not a good sign.