What more does it really need?
Growth. User retention. Some rational limitation on the unrestrained ability of anyone with stake to tax the earnings of anyone for any reason whatsoever. The ability to produce with a reasonable expectation of payment for it. Hundreds of thousands of people came here, undertook the learning curve and started producing content, only to be taxes 100% of the earnings forever, with no reasonable means of changing that. HW isn't reasonable. They're notorious for demanding people post daily for a year with declined rewards to get off the blacklist, demanding people practically grovel, submit to egregiously abusive treatment by HW principals and fellow grade school bullies on Discord, to be allowed to earn rewards for posting on Hive, and crap like that.
Onboarding is not the problem - or it wasn't before that foul reputation began circulating around the cryptosphere. User retention is practically zero at one year. Unrestrained taxation is why.
"Maybe I should run some queries to see how many of those are active."
This is a good idea. If you find, as I expect you to, that none of the people you onboarded remain active, you should ask why. Some people are pretty durable, and it takes a consistent and complete 100% tax loss to HW to drive them away. Most people are outraged by having one post zeroed, and they're done.
Tax is a word that gets used for various things. People don't actually earn for downvoting and I am not sure it is quite as bad as you make out. I have found HW fairly reasonable if you actually talk to them, but they need to be fair with those who want to use Hive 'properly'. I expect they get plenty of threats and abuse.
Hive has various issues, but I don't think you can just blame one.