As much as I agree with your point, it is rather absurd that having 35 threads with 10 posts of the same topic vs 1 thread of said topic with 350 posts is a very ludicrous cop out to say certain scenario is weighted less than another. Even if everyone wants to individually express their opinion and not feel like it is drowned among the hundreds of similar voiced complaints.
Granted, there are plenty of reasons to dismiss many of the threads with x or y reasoning. But to me, and to many I can explain the same circumstance, the end result is still in the end 350 opinions that are on the same wavelength of a similar topic based on the prev. example I made. Walling up behind a culture barrier or undermining it because its too overwhelming is an easy thing to say to minimize the issue. Because no matter how you reason it, it still the same number of people reacting in a very similar way to the same thing.
As easy as it can be to just point the blame or shift it around or just use the "optional" label as a logical scapegoat it doesn't change the circumstance. Yes, your personal experience does reward your expectations because of the potential it has, which I doubt anyone is against.
And while many of us are aware that SE is a business and they are trying to cover costs for these implementations, we can easily find the failed dilemma that they dance around on: We actually need money for the things you ask, but we'll blame it on x/y/z limitation instead.
