We’re being gaslit, Mitch. The confusion is unreal. To rank on a Google Page One, engagement is King + Queen. A comment is gold. Because the reader took the extra step to engage. Whatever is hot ( traffic coming to a page) tells the algo to send more eyes to that page.
Bots falsify the hot zones by sending traffic to a page.
R4R cartels create hot zones.
Add there are Medium’s Top 6 that have little engagement and yet rank?

Then blame readers for engaging? That’s deflection from what is really going on. A form of gaslighting.
If you stop engaging, it makes it worse not better for you as a writer to get views. A great article still needs traffic from the get go. And without it, it won’t be found, let alone be distributed nor suggested.

The House always wins.