Well, I admit I didn't take your case entirely serious because so far I can't even tell if (and how) you submitted answers to the additional KYC questions. On the previous page I got the impression you were making a point about how annoyed you are by those questions, considering that you already submitted your passport etc., so I'm not sure if you say you answered them.
So I'll try to be fair: You have a verified account, you wanted to withdraw some money, you got the additional questionnaire, you answered that questionnaire, and you're still not getting any response. Is that correct?
Indeed, I found the KYC-program annoying. You are also correct with your further assumptions, I hold a long verified bitstamp account and answered the six KYC questions when they were sent to me through their ticket system. So currently I have to assume that in some cases they release money, in others not. Unfortunately, the only case I can verify is mine and my withdrawal is still unprocessed. For you the situation seems to look very different.
incessant delays are what i am looking to avoid. the industry and price move around a lot and having funds stuck in limbo is not at all beneficial. Also there is mention that these KYC questions are also asked when you transact purely in bitcoin, is this true?
My btc transfers (in the process of removing all my btc from bitstamp) went all through, without any delay. The value was comparable to the USD transfer in question.