I was telling people that poor quality content was going to get the boot about 2 years ago. And from what I can see, this is precisely what it was targeting. I came to the conclusion that it wasn't exactly "Fred" that affected my site earlier, but some issues I had after https migration. A lot of sites that got hit were not original and either had budget writers or just spun content, even if it might have been manually edited to make it readable. I bet a lot of PBN's with a bunch of bollocks got hit, and all the knights who were laughing before about how effective spun content on tier sites have changed their tune.
I am pretty good at making shit up as I go along and making it unique + interesting. I suggest everyone learn how to write effective sales copy and get to work on rewriting content or improving the overall quality of their sites. Copywriting is an invaluable skill especially as there is so much more content on the web. Everyone thinks its long articles that win, but its in depth content with substance AND written in an interesting way that keeps people coming back.