It makes sense that tons of people would sign up hoping for a quick payday. Around that time the front page had posts earning $10k+ so it looked awesome to people just discovering Steem. It was never going to last. The fact that new people came and stuck around is great though.

I personally believe Steemit is just getting started. The developer community is huge and new apps are being built every day. Pretty awesome to be able to be in early and watch this thing grow.