When it comes down to it Hive just isn't for everyone. If you are hugely fixated on the dollars then you probably wont last because no matter what you earn it will never be enough and you will snap.
It sounds corny but if you are here for more than the money it usually equates to better rewards because your interactions and actions on the chain are seen to be genuine and people reward not only posts but authors they like regardless of content. Hence auto votes.
I cant say it is the case for DickT but in the hundreds of cases I have looked at of people complaining about rewards and interaction almost all have an account that does little in the way of building their own presence and they just seem to expect the rewards to roll in.
It is hard, that is true. But people including ourselves have carved a niche and enjoy the place. I have seen new people do the same. As you mention above, interacting reaps dividends. I was an insane commenter when I started, I think I was almost top if you discounted the bots it helped me get out there. If you make 1-3 comments a day you will probably get nowhere.
It is hard but not impossible to earn on Hive as is easily seen in the feed of those who go for it.
Also, I tend not to assign much to the user number graphs for the simple reason that they, along with Crypto are cyclical. I know we would all like a nice trend line up or at least to be stable but people leave when the token value (and correspondingly the rewards dollar value) drops. They join when it is rocketing, tis sad but true
I think most who do well have worked hard to get there. I really am a nobody as far as the general internet is concerned, but I 'put myself about' on here. It was quite touching how many people knew me in Lisbon.
That's always nice. I think you are quite well known! Hive stardom is all that matters 😀