Hi Brent, I don't think so. I'm a contrarian by nature - that means I rock up and argue the toss if I disagree. Some writers will hide comments by those that question their authority and are promoting a fan-club mentality. In some cases those writers block those who disagree with them to prevent them from dissenting.

I don't think how an article is received by the wider readership matters, if it's getting a tonne of responses then the read time is going up and the Medium algorithm pushes it a little more. Often my most controversial pieces are the ones that get the most traction - a large percentage of that traction provided by people like Eve who take exception to what's written. Sometimes if I dissent on a popular article, i will get clapped a bunch and that's usually the pre-cursor to me writing an article expanding on my objection to someone else's work.

Fan clubs are a big problem here on Medium. There's a tipping point past which the content an author puts out is almost guaranteed to do well because of that author's following. Enough people see it that it gets the boost - that leaves less space for more nuanced writers and less algorithmic wiggle room for the rest of us to get our work seen. :o)