In my opinion, the problem is a missing notification if we are quoted. I'm sure the people interested in a good discussion will reply if they get a notification that someone quoted them and asked an important question, it's not the lack of interest to reply.
Of course, that won't solve the shitposter problem - they won't reply even if they get notifications all the time. In addition, they are quoted mostly by other shitposters.
I know about the tool from Piggy but I would prefer in-forum solutions so I keep checking all the threads myself (still possible to miss questions)
while i agree with the part about the notification system (i honestly forget to even check it) but a couple things.. what about the just busy author who saw the one gold coin under the name and just glanced on by. I think the rankings also have played into this outcome. Hate to say it but if you aren.t a 2 gold or higher a lot of people just dont really pay you any attention. this isnt ALWAYS the case but it does happen. Also im guilty of this one too, i usually stop reading after the quot is done.. maybe two... but 3 yeah screw that move on to the next.. as you may notice in the reply my quote here is from... i stopped reading after the quoted statement