While I agree that low prices are more of an incentive to buy for obvious reasons, I can also see why many are not bothering to do so due to the fact that there aren't particularly many signs of bullishness. It is simply smarter and more rewarding to invest that money almost all of the time lately. If something is already very weak and the developer of the blockchain is adding to that weakness, why invest?
Advertisements, in my opinion, are one of the dumbest ideas that Steemit Inc has had. Whether it produces a tiny bit of money or not, it fundamentally insults everything they claim to be solving with the existence of this blockchain itself. There are other ways they can go about raising capital.
If you joined this March, I'd say you've been fortunate. You would have missed a lot of downfall beforehand. I joined Steem in May 2017, and I've seen the cycles it's had, but nothing this bad.