The cheesier the better!

I think that a large proportion of long comments are thoughtful since it's quite hard to waffle for hours and say nothing thoughtful (although of course exceptions exist :P). In any case, since it seems like I was using the terms interchangeably you can replace "long" with "thoughtful" if that makes more sense.

Maybe I am part of a popular cliche, but it isn't something I honestly feel. Maybe my observations aren't accurate, but it seems like the most thoughtful comments do get recognition even if the commenter is someone I've never seen before. Maybe not so much anymore, because there's less of a tight community now and people talk to each other less overall. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

I think often is still definitely an overstatement since I think a vast majority of humour on this site doesn't fall under that category, which is why I thought you sounded cynical. That's just my personal taste though. Nothing can be funny to everyone.