I am trying to see how I want to approach the question.
Are you saying that people have to keep on Steeming despite the low prices to keep the ecosystem alive? Or, are you being cynical about why people still treating Steem like some godsent gift?
Since I have seen many responses covering the former, I would like to answer the cynical aspect of it.
There is no reason why you have to devote all your time and energy to a platform with many holes. Of course, that is if you believe Steem somehow enriches your life on a daily basis.
In my mind, there are a few scenarios where someone would feel they have to Steem on:
1. Clueless
I am willing to bet many people have no clue about the price action in crypto for the most part. To a multitude, Steem was their gateway into cryptocurrency. They do not yet realize that most of the prices tie back to Bitcoin.
2. Abusers
Why would they care? They try to muster every cent they could. The faucet delegation abusers did not stop. The same circlejerks did not stop. The bids carried on, but intensified with the lower prices.
3. Community leaders
Or, whatever they like to refer themselves as. Some people have the need to feel like they are part of something important. In this case, it is more like they feel they have something that is important to the Steem ecosystem. Whether whatever they lead is actually significant is up to debate. Sometimes, apparent authority is worth more than money.
4. Burned investors
Some of them fall under this category. It is a shame because they scramble to recoup the losses as the market plunges. I have more respect for people in this category as many of them want to help this blockchain to be better. They tend to have visions that are more in line with proper business strategies.
Of course, even within this group, there are sub-categories. Some of them are builders that find ways to monetize and add venues for addition revenues. Some of them only know how to stack coins. I guess the latter is much easier to do than figuring out how to make a dapp or business profitable.
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This is only a short list. There is no way it covers all the types of people and schools of thought on the platform. Notice that I did not include people who are Steeming for fun. Those type of people do not feel they have to spend their time on the Steem blockchain.
