I hear you, I tend to be the same way. Generally I don't like leaving the 'cool post' type comment. Often I either leave a 'wall of text' or nothing, though I've been trying to work on that a bit, just so I comment more.
You're very right on the 'hooks' and having some sort of 'call to action' like that to give their take. There are also more 'controversial' topics that tend to get people to chime in on their own, with it being something they're more passionate about. Often on the internet that could degenerate quickly, but not so much a problem with the community here (at least in my eyes.)
I think there are a couple of issues impeding the crossing over to here for reddit users. First, most places steemit links are removed (automatically or by moderators) or shadow-banned (where even with upvotes they stay at the bottom of lists.) There's a similar thing on Facebook. The other is the calls of 'scam' and other naysayers who tend to be the loudest people in the room. While it's definitely not insurmountable, it does make things more difficult.
These people annoy me. I can understand some healthy skepticism, but I wish people would do some research and think for themselves instead of just giving a gut reaction and calling it a day.
The fact that Steem has lost 98% of its value since the highs of last summer probably doesn't help either. People think "hey, Steem, okay, let me check out the price chart". Once they look at that, it's game over for most of them. I bet we probably won't see another big wave of adoption until the price begins to recover. But of course the price will have a hard time recovering without some increased adoption and excitement to get people buying again... it's sort of a chicken-and-egg type problem.
Oh I understand. When someone is being asked to invest money, they should be skeptical. But I find it rather hilarious when people who've not put in a cent scream ponzi.
Regardless, if you are able to earn something from nothing (outside of time of course, but it's not like we were necessarily paid anything before) then it's really a moot point.
Ideally we can get come organic growth just through word of mouth. It's nice that most of the 'loud fighting' has died away (at least for now, lol.) I brought this up with a facebook friend just yesterday, she may check it out. I tend to not push it hard, instead just pique their interest and let them ask questions as they come.
But yea, there definitely is a somewhat catch-22 right now with some potential signups lacking excitement with the low price while potential investors are likely looking to see the user base grow.
I did hear that steemit inc recently hired a 3 or 4 person marketing team. I'm rather excited to see what they put out there.