I think it depends where you are in your stage of life. I flew for the regionals in the 80's and 90's and I was single then. The flying was fun as were the people. It was a great learning experience flying FAR 135 for the first time (1900) and then moving on to FAR 121 with an autopilot and a F/A. The negatives remain the same--poor substandard pay for a professional pilot. It was never looked upon as a career because of that fact. We had a few "lifers" for a variety of reasons. Many guys had other jobs, businesses to make it. We had a few dentists and even an MD flying for us.
If I recall my first year at Eagle in 1991 (AMR Eagle Command-Flagship--now Envoy) on the ATR, I made around $15,000. We were told we would all upgrade in 6-12 months. I left after almost 3 years with no upgrade in sight. My classmate who stuck it out just made it to AA 23 years later. In 24 years, not much has changed with regionals still offering $25/hr for new hires. I do think everything is about to change. Regionals can't find qualified people anymore.