I would like to know this as well. I would believe that as long as an article is active that it would not be paid out until there is a slow down of creation or upvotes. The payout information at the end tells people what the community value. If makeup tutorials are making 30k the community is telling you they will pay lots of money for these tutorials. It also adds a refreshing amount of transparency that google and Facebook would never offer. As you probably know if you disclose your revenue that a company is giving you as part of a sponsorship or partner ship they will drop you and possibly sue you. This allows for a level of murky water where everyone is discourage from sharing information because chances are google and other companies are giving more money to the people they want to see more of based on their own bias. Interesting Post!