I think you hit on the main point, which is that lots of people have higher pay expectations than what reality dictates.

Beyond that, there are only so many stories a person can write about Sprinkles, the beloved family cat they had from ages 9-15 (SPRINKLES! 😿😿😿). Bloggy content produced at a high volume causes burnout.

I personally love reading about that one time a writer got into a snippy verbal altercation over the last box of chamomile tea at the grocery store. However, if that is 100% of the content, I can see why engagement might decline.

This is a fun place with many topics to explore, but you can also end up competing with low-quality, high volume content. Also, writing lengthy comments is a lot of fun. Addictive, even.