Gene, Yes, it is very difficult to get people to comment on a paper. That is one of the good things about the FQXi contest. Even if they do it to draw attention to their own work in the contest it is still a good thing that it generates some discussion.
It is also one of the reasons why it is very hard to get new peer review systems to work. As I explained in the essay, people do peer review to impress the editors who are likely to be future employers. If you want to implement a new system you must not lose that incentive.
It is not that people are not interested in other people's work. They just tend to read it and take it in, but it is much harder to form a critique. Most papers are skimmed quickly for the main facts. If you want to review it you need to spend much more time and there are a lot of papers to read.
Another way people get some feedback is by giving talks at conferences, but any comments are hard-won. Open peer review would go a little way towards helping but people need to be realistic about the feedback they can expect. No response does not mean that they work is not being read or that it is not liked. You just have to keep adding to your work and make sure it is archived for future reference.
