YES! I agree with all of the points you made. You should've mentioned this when you commented on my post, as they really complement each other. You had such a detailed post too, I really feel that our posts could've boosted each other had you linked to this. Alas, I discovered this in postpromotion. Anyway, since I've already mentioned to you my thoughts on the matter, I just wanted mention one quick thing.
It is understood that if you have a lot of comments you can't and probably shouldn't respond to each one
Personally, even if I received a thousand comments, I'll do my best to respond to them all. Even if it takes days to do. The comments helped your post achieve the success it received, so the least you could do is acknowledge their contribution. I do agree what you said that it would come out as ungrateful.
Really though, I agree with every other thing. I do hop this reaches more people and we could build a better community out of this. It all boils down to a question of character. I have hopes that it would improve, but let's see. Great post, man!
Thanks. Yes I understand what you are saying. I think it depends on how often you post and how many comments you get. I think for someone like @dantheman to respond to all his comments would be near impossible as he posts quite regularly and they get a lot of attention. I think several people would be required to answer all of them.
In those cases, at least other people notice the post and reply to it. I guess my main gripe is for those posts that go unnoticed. They have the length and substance of a separate post, but they don't receive any interaction (votes or response)