I wonder how many would still be posting on Hive without the rewards, high or low as they are. I probably would, since I have a pre-Hive blogging experience where rewards were a chimera most of the times. I liked to say what I had to say then as I do now, and engage with people as well.
I know at least a few others who write here not directly motivated by the financial reward of blogging, since they reveal from their posts a very good situation both in the real world and in crypto, so a few dollars plus or minus to them every day would not make a difference.
The situations you described are real and they happen. As someone who likes to engage with others but I do occasionally (often, lately) find myself in the position of being too tired or too focused on other matters to comment, I understand why engagement fluctuates, even for the same person.