Thank you @intelliguy for sharing this important issue. Good comments are very inspiring and for me, they are the cherry on the cake (so to speak). By good comments, I don't mean just positive comments, from positively formulated critical comments you can learn and that's also fantastic.
I totally agree with @jakeworkingman and with you, writing and getting replies, reading and writing comments, meeting people, that's fantastic and the rest are bonuses. You gave a good example of how important honest writing is, when you do, somebody (in this case you) will pick it up and resteem it, or write about it. That way people like @jakeworkingman, will get more followers (I will be among them), and so on, and so on. Together we will make Steemit grow and flourish.