Many active users are in the same boat. I started with a 3k Steem investment and have built it up to over 8k through working on the site, powering up every SBD I've received. Today, even with my increase in Steem over the period of time, it's worth less than my original investment. I've also taken a position on an exchange.
I really don't think I should be compensated for my investment directly. It was speculative, which is the nature of cryptos, including ones that actually do something (like Steem). If there's going to be a distribution, IMO, it should focus on the best content creators or it should be a simple burn of Steem in order to reduce the supply, hopefully raising all ships. IMO, any other attempt would become too subjective.