i was literally thinking this a couple of days ago. At first i purged down all the inactive and now reading this i am really think to cut down more. It's basically as you said. I have over 650 followers and i end up getting 20-30 upvotes from the same people. I get it too that some may busy and can't at the time but it's relatively easy to understand what everyone is either by their comments or with just a quick look at their profiles. From a person that have 2000 people following i expect nothing.
In the end we just have to find those we like,believe,enjoy and vise versa and try grow together!
Right?? The disparity is huge! I have 1070 followers as of writing, and my latest post only had 14 views and 4 comments. That's quite ridiculous when you think about it. What happened to the thousand or so, right? I do like your conclusion though and I fully agree! Onwards and upwards! :D