There's a lot I can say about this, and I think I might take it to e-mail, if that's OK with you.

But I will say one thing about not getting replies on LJ/mailing lists/etc.
With Usenet newsgroups, there's a phenomenon called "Usenet nod" (scrith will back me up on this). It means that more often than not, constructive and interesting posts get fewer replies than less constructive ones. That's because people who agree don't want to clog the newsgroup with posts that just say "Me, too." They'll only reply when they don't agree, and say why.