Yeah, I totally agree.... I can't help but think those people that haven't bothered to engage or reply will be totally lost when their autovoters move onto whatever more-profitable tasty businesses rock up with SMTs... while those loved by their readers will still have friends to play with.
That honestly never occurred to me... but you're right, I can't think of any other platform that rewards a person's readers... apart from a worthless visual tick, thumbs up, etc.
Not only that but as you said people I think are commenting and engaging less as they are busy with pumping out their own content. Sad really. I am lucky to get a handful of genuine comments from real people