There's another "wrinkle in the equation" that doesn't get much airtime here... which is the perception of what Hive "IS."

Very simply (pretty much "marketing 101"), if you draw people to Hive on the premise "Join Hive and MAKE MONEY creating content," you draw a crowd whose focus is more on making money than creating content. Not saying this is a BAD or WRONG thing, just pointing out that it sets up a paradigm in which people are more likely to power down and cash out than hold for the long term.

I came here on the idea that I could build stake in the platform I use, which has a very long term time horizon. At first, I cashed out a little, just to see if it was real. Subsequently, I have only powered down twice, once to keep losing my house to tax foreclosure, and once for a personal emergency. To this day 3 1/2 years later, I see my Hive stake as a long term savings and investment account, not as a money making endeavor... I'm not expecting to pay for next week's pizza with my posts.