Tricky thing is, all posts in this thread are from players who overcame the hurdles and grasped Dwarf Fortress.
That's why I posted despite being exhausted, I've only got 3 days experience with DF and it's important to get feedback fresh.
I'm not saying simplifying the game or making the first part of the learning curve a bit shallower is a good thing. I'm just saying
if you want to attract more, you need to lower the barriers to entry. If "you" want DF to be a niche game, guys, look, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Something hit me about 30 minutes ago though, one way to reduce a barrier to entry that I didn't see in the thread (granted, I skimmed every other page):
XBOX360/PS3 versions (Wii? iPhone?). Just having it available as a $1-$5 game or a freebie or something (though I think most of the services require some price as a quality control measure), with prepackaged tilesets that look nice. I'm not saying it would be easy (SDKs are available, though I doubt it would be as simple as 'Project->Build->XBOX360'), and it would take a revamp of the interface (though how many posts have said the interface needs to be rethought anyway?). But the barrier to entry of being Desktop-dependent in a tech culture that encompasses so many more platforms would be gone.
And that made me think of a--UGH!--Facebook version, but please don't do that. Retain
some margin of dignity.