I'm a real person, and I read your post. :-)
I really should interact more with the people who are still putting up posts on steemit, but I don't always have much to say in a reply.
I think a lot of people left the platform when they figured out that they weren't going to make much money on here. I guess they were expecting steemit to be a "get rich quick" scheme, and it's not. I'm still here because I like it, and because I have hopes that the platform will grow.
I think you're spot-on with why a lot of people left. Glad to know you read my junk! :-)