Pete, i think it´s relevant as all those issue can´t be separated…..the forum issue was just an example, but if you look in a more open view, it´s all connected to each other.
As I said:
"It´s like anywhere…artists want to be loved and admired even they know those responses very often are just blabla or simply based on to leave a comment for a good will. For many artists it´s like a mental masturbation to feel valuable IMO."
For me this connects very much to your original question (" I see mostly comments of a overtly positive nature such as 'great track' etc., which surely isn't informative / instructive for anyone ?"
Greetings,
Tomas