Well part of why people stay in because they're hopin the value of steem goes up. If the value of steem goes up to 10$ next year all your posts will be worth 10x what they are today.
I think that's a good part of peoples drive on this platform currently. It's not a get rich quick scheme. It takes time and effort to build a following on here and most people don't want to hear that.
The people I am connected to are bloggers, authors, and content creators in health, weight loss and va work. No one is looking for anything more than a place to get our message out. We have followings already and want to bring them here if it is a good place to post. Currently, that is not working out well.
This will not be the first platform to fail while I am on it - if it does fail. But it is surely the most frustrating, the hardest to learn and the most clique-ish.
Check the current steem price in the market through your wallet. Not sure what's up with that, but it is definitely dropping like a stone as I type now.