People give commendations all the time, just typically to the support players or players with nice portraits. While you can argue that more players can/should give coms to people who play well regardless of class, most people typically just aren't paying attention to that.

I don't see why the system being inconsequential means it needs to be scrapped- sure, there's not really a reward for giving them, but the only real point to get them en masse is to unlock mentor or to pat yourself on the back for having a high number. And it's nice being able to give someone the equivalent of a gold star sticker when I notice they're playing well in a dungeon or PvP or something, and it's also nice when you get comms after saving a pull.