I think I see the problem. I happen to really enjoy longer comments, this type of discourse allows me to actually get to know the individual I'm interacting with. And I can see you're that way as well. Here's the thing-most people don't have the...we'll call it attention span. It could just be that they're very busy and long comments are daunting because there's a certain expectation for them to reply in kind. Or it could be that they would feel exposed and are afraid to. There are many reasons it could be, but the bottom line is comments do work, but they have to be short and sweet. For example "Wow, this was great (point out one thing, not everything, just one thing that you liked) I look forward to your next post!" That's it. This way they feel flattered but not overwhelmed. There are exceptions like myself and @ezzy, and I'm sure there are more, but overall it's wisest to go that route. You'll discover the ones like you and me along the way ;)
As for the money, as far as I know it's a problem with favoritism by the whales, which the hardfork is supposed to eventually have an impact on (depending how many of these whales have opted to power down with the price of steem on the decline in combination with the huge cut in curation rewards) But we won't really see the difference until a few months from now since that's how long it takes to power down. It's a good think money is not my incentive either way, haha! It's nice of course, but I really enjoy this platform regardless ;)
Oh, those last few sentences you wrote? Perfect example of a comment you would leave to most people haha! Thank you for saying that, I look forward to your thoughts :)