I think it is occurrences like this which highlight underlying issues with the publication system on Medium. I do not know even the smallest detail beyond what I have read in your story. However, publications on Medium that are popular do put a lot of pressure on essentially people donating their time. Whether it is the person who starts a publications or anyone who takes on being an editor. This is all being done for free, with only a small potential to earn from publishing their own stories. Many do it willingly, but it still takes a lot of time which can so easily be blown away.