Just look at Siacoin. Difficulty is not dropping despite losing $2-3/day net. I think plenty of people (myself included) would be more than willing to mine at a loss gambling that the price will go back up... Remember, it's not a loss until you sell.
that is only true if you buy.
If you mine and pay for electricity, it may be a loss long before you sell or even have an opportunity to sell.
exactly what they don't understand and live in denial is that mining at total loss is actually a double loss whereas buying coins is only a loss if price goes down, mining at loss is paying electricity and if price goes down then is a double loss cause you could have used the electricity money to buy coins. If is a total loss then is better to turn it off if is summer now if is winter and you mine at home and you need the heat then by all means keep the miners on.
It has been pointless to mine anything for at least 5 months.
Agreed. Ive been trying to tell people don't waste after tax money on electricity. Use pre-tax money to load up on your 401k instead to borrow from 401k and buy coins at capitulation bottom prices. This type of move can bring in 6 digits in the future.