Why is IH overall engagement rate so low?

Hey IHers,

I'm on the platform since the beginning of this year and just right away want to let you know that I love the community already! Love the energy and valuable feedback.

Even though I'm not sure about the engagement rate in general on IH. (I'm gonna assume a lot from this point so please let me know if I'm terribly wrong).

If you sign up to the forum you automatically follow the founders channing (45k) and courtland allen (46k). So let's say there are ~46k registrations. I can't decide about the number of active users, but I assume that there are at least 20% of them that check indie hackers now and then. That's ~9k of people that either already started their business or want to start their own thing.

If we have a look at the most popular posts (all-time) the first page starts from ~50 up to ~350 likes and ~80 up to ~500 comments. The vast majority of the posts are posted by either the founders or rosie the community manager. (Compared to the number of active users/registrations, that's a little low imho)

The more exciting stuff for me is the milestone section. If we have close look at it we see numbers between ~10 to ~150 upvotes for the top milestones each day.

What do those observations tell me?
For me, it seems like the engagement rate is pretty off. In my understanding if you are into SaaS and currently building your own thing or want to learn stuff, then you're more likely to engage with similar content, don't you? (Maybe it's just me). However, the platform looks (subjectively) very pretty and it seems easy to engage (for me).

So what's the reason for those low upvotes on posts and milestones?
For me, this is the challenging part. I don't have experience in running a forum or community, which means those are wild guesses, but still, I feel like there is a reason for it. Maybe the way the platform is designed does focus on different areas (Easier to read and get information than write and give) or the time frame posts are visible makes it harder to keep discussing?

What's your (IHer) opinion on this topic, on my thoughts? Do you think the reach you get with your posts is fine?

Maybe @csallen @channingallen or @rosiesherry can provide some insights (numbers) or share their opinion on that, would love to hear some actual facts!