I suppose the "inevitable question" is whether the rewards pool is getting larger because something in the core algorithm is adding more to it... or because there are simply fewer people posting and sharing than before... meaning it's filling at the same rate as before, but just being emptied more slowly?

Why does that matter? Well because I'd guess if overall usage has taken a steep nosedive as a result of HF.20 that's probably not the greatest thing for the overall community...