It was the engagement that got me hooked 5 years ago on steemit. The rewards were in the form of praise and not so much monetary.

Now it's the total opposite, my post's get handsomely rewarded with dollars but the engagement is just not there in the same way. You only have to look at most of the top trending posts to see that that the engagement levels have dropped big time.

I would say it's a mixture of politics and lack of engagement that makes people turn their backs on this hugely potential blockchain.

This is only my opinion, which doesn't hold any credibility as I have only just returned after a few years away.

Good job for raising this issue @demotruk 👍