Hi Carl,
I support @curie as a witness because I have seen their support to newbies in our #newbieresteeemday community. Many of times we have newbies highlighted on the account that receives Curie support. Even if they are not newbies, I still send a great post off to Gene or Debbie to review for Curie support. Now I have a Curator look at a post directly in Discord.
I've seen many people received support. Some choose to stay for this very reason, but I have also seen others decide to leave, despite their big payout of $70+ and even $300+. I believe the retention rate is partly due to the relationships built on here and community support individuals receive. However, not everyone are community engagers and do become discouraged after one big upvote support because now their expectation is this kind of payout. They only have to look at Trending to see this is what Steemit should be paying them for their post. When they start seeing penny or small dollar amount payouts again, well, I think it can be discouraging.
With that being said, we all have to find our "tribe" and receive the community support there. Sometimes, it's not even one community, but a parade of them. I enjoy helping newbies with the #newbieresteemday community and I also enjoy hanging out with the folks at #comedyopenmic.
Curie does an awesome job supporting authors but people have to understand it can never be a one-man show here on Steemit. One really does need community support for long-term success.