I was thinking about this just yesterday. I actually think that the monetary aspect is part of the problem. Now, I'm a newbie, so I might not be getting the full picture, but most of the comments I get are from spammers trying to get up-votes. 

"Good post...
I will resteem...
Carry on.."

This gives me an uneasy feeling even when people are legitimately adding to the conversation (asking a question for example). Are they just posting for the same reason, but in clearer English? Usually it's clear that they didn't even read the post, but rather, the skimmed it for guessed at it's content.

Sometimes it is a good question, but I don't have any voting power, so I respond.. then feel guilty that I didn't even give them the 0.01. Or if they did get their 0.01, then I feel like they're responding just to get another.

It's not that I'm overly suspicious of peoples motives.. it's that if there is any incentive at all, it effects how people behave. I worry that we'll all end up like the spammers, worried to say the wrong thing and incur a flag.

I honestly enjoy commenting more than writing sometimes. It's the easiest thing to do; just read what someone possibly took hours to write and provide feedback. If you at least read the post, you WILL have something to say. All it takes it reading the posts people. C'mon.

You know, I have a few people that I look up to here and tend to learn from what they do. I wonder who these spammers are looking up to; for them to think that BS commenting will work 😧 Maybe that's the problem, they don't have anyone to look up to and that's 100% their fault.

Like you have said it's usually a challenge sometimes , but I have found what works for me is finding articles that interest me, instead of the generic 'great post'i can add onto what the article is about or ask a question about something in the article or even suggest a follow-up article, it's really not necessarily the number of followers that one accumulates but rather the quality of followers one has, and that's where the network is. 
Better few but strong and loyal followers than many and not so much value being added or given.

Nice post dear, you have opened my mind! 

In all seriousness though, i couldn't agree more. Lately, i have been lucky though, and have gotten some really nice feedback on my posts (the feedback i did actually get), that was truly valuable to me, since it helped me improve. But more often than not, the vast majority of comments are a copy/ paste variance of "follow you, follow me", or "updoot for updoot", or something like that.... 
This has to be sorted out somehow. Flagging might be too hard, but it would be nice to give those accounts less room to breathe on the platform.

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It's a fair point, I think people get a lil tunnel vision when they hear they can earn from posting... What they don't realize is that your comments are posts as well. Even if they don't get as much attention as a normal share would, it's important to note it has the same potential...

I would post a reply that would be worth while reading, but all that I would say has already been said by either you or other people that replied. So I'm just using my reply to state that I agree with you. I remember you suggesting this in chat once and since I've been trying to improve my commenting skills and I did see change in people starting to follow me quicker.