I totally understand you. You feel extremely public, with strangers commenting and criticizing. I was in your place some months ago and continued because in the end, we want to connect and help lots of people (there are always lots of likes but we're distracted with the 2 stupid comments). Today, I have more than 25k views in the month. Medium is paying me around $90 a day, and I'm happier than ever with my public. Keep going!