I only participated in two surveys, the first, then the second or third (don't remember).

I am here. So, while I'm not sure, I think I'm still interested 😑

Maybe gauging level of interest based on the number of survey participants is not a sound strategy 🤔

I think there used to be a question about how long you've known/used Rust. And you would find that new or relatively new users were always overrepresented. Although, maybe that over-representation was read wrongly at times.

If I had to speculate something based on this decline, I would guess that most people who were to give Rust a try at some point, have actually done so already. So the influx of people new to the language, where for them the novelty (and the excitement/resentment that comes with it) hasn't worn off already, has slowed down.

I'd say that's understandable, and is to be expected after many years of hyped existence.