I don't really see the reason behind people leaving steemit.
I believe it is due to drastic drop in the value of steem and SBD.
To me that really shouldnt be a criteria for leaving or staying on steemit. Afterall facebook didnt pay us for all those years on their platform.
It shouldn't be. It's just like you said. People never had a dime on FB but complain about steemit payouts.
Also what they dont realize is that as the value of steem rises the value of their accounts rise too.