Great article. New, fresh take on the matter. I do think Vocal will get better, but I also do think you're right, it is a honeytrap. I've entered 18 challenges and won nothing. I've put some of those stories onto Medium after the challenge ended and they've earned good money, meaning they're not awful entries. I dunno, not winning a writing challenge is fine but my views are so so low and Vocal continuously claim you can easily earn thousands. I just don't believe the hype. Also, they are very politically bent to the far left, which is annoying, simply becuase they should try to take more of a neutral stance as a platform. Meh.