lack of social understanding in how humans operate.

Social rules are very different online than they are in the flesh, especially in 'places' where currency is involved. When one starts out on hive, earning is almost impossible. Your normal upvote on a comment is often more than a newbie can earn on a post that took them hours to produce. I sure could have used you back in my early days here, and could very well have left generic comments just to see what would happen. I'm sure I would have come to relish the conversations, and the thoughts your posts generate, in short order, though. I get no kicks out of verbal diarrhea, as a rule.

it would be more rewarding to speak to a wall.

This also tends to be the people who have a bit of age behind them,

Those who are younger, at least in the states, have been indoctrinated to regurgitate what they have been taught, not to think about it much, in order to get a grade. In both cases, there is an immediate reward. These are trained responses.

This brings to mind a comment left on a friend's post that mimicked one I had left;, my comment was something like "I love that about you," While I got the account's usual upvote on comments, the other similar comment got a punishing remark and a downvote. The poor person started literally begging for understanding. He asked me to get involved! Talk about pathetic.