I wandered over here from the followup thread about this post being devalued. If this is actually what is happening here, this makes no conceivable sense. There are 237 people who have weighed in positively on this post and the comment section has been steadily climbing to now around 100. For the payout to plummet almost $1,000 simply because traffic or activity on your post quieted down briefly seems insane. Those 237 people didn't take back their upvotes just because things slowed down after the initial zerg rush. It seems like Steemit goes out of its way to create entirely unnatural ecosystems.

Incidentally I have also noticed the same phenomenon on my posts (diminishing payouts) though not nearly to this degree. I really hope you figure it out and are fairly compensated.