Briefly, I do think having these notices posted here is a valuable service, but there will be (for want of a better word) 'local' people who are very active in chess in their area or region, but who have very little wider recognition. If there is no-one posting to or reading the forum from that area, then understandably there will be little reaction.
Also, before you started posting regular notices, Simon, there were many, many deaths that went unrecorded. Going back 10-15 years, there is a large amount out there that could be collated, but ultimately it should be those publishing the obituaries that make sure they are published in the right places. There is a place for a roving reporter, but maybe a round-up of wider news as well would be better received?
Ultimately, it is also down to people at a local level to post obituary notices, and to preserve the memories. What might be more useful is an effort to preserve some of the local records at a national level. Some of the obituaries on chess club or league websites (and indeed the other records on the websites) will only last as long as someone maintains the websites. An awful lot of it gets lost at some point (it was very fortunate that I believe most of the SCCU website maintained by Richard Haddrell was passed on in some fashion, to give one example). I am sure others have examples of chess websites and records that were lost.
This is one reason why regular (even if only annually) publication of newsletters can help build up records that may end up being preserved. And don't get me started on whether printed records survive longer than digital ones... (I flip both ways on that at various times).