Users of Kbin and Lemmy should continually search for communities and magazines that will interest them and interact. There's places appearing all of the time. What you didn't find yesterday might be there today.
Most of the time I have Jerboa set to look for new posts within all instances. I'm surprised at what's out there after only four days. Sadly many don't have any comments after several hours, even days. Up votes are one thing but if someone took the time to post, written feedback is what will inspire someone to make more posts. Yes. I only comment when it's warranted but even a simple compliment can encourage more posts and discussion.
I've seen a bot running on an instance that's finding some of the best from reddit and posting. It identifies itself as a bot and links to the original content. It gives a url to the reddit post and when it was posted. This is something I can appreciate. I hope it can generate some discussion.
Now, more than ever, sorting by new and commenting on what interests you will help.
You're correct up to a point. A statistical bell curve is present in most things. You'll have those who lurk, those who comment, those who post, and those that will moderate in any group. Make that group bigger and each category will grow too. The group can skew the results, lower the lurkers for instance, by making them answer questions before joining. They self select themselves as being more engaged.
But I agree, the current business models are big on numbers and not necessarily what is going on with those numbers. We've been taught quantity over quality in real world applications to our detriment. It's sad really.