I don't think one person would make a case study. Whatever his reason is, it would be a very specific personal reason. A case study of this will be just be like profiling a patient in a lab.
Even HN isn't immune to the problems of a karma system, whereby long detailed comments get tl;dr, and karma is as much affected by visibility as quality. A quick throwaway reply to something that ends up at the top of a post on the front page can easily gain as much karma as a long detailed reply at a later date.
Of course we're talking about case study in terms of a group of developers with their own dynamics, not the mind of a single person.
I get what you're saying, but thejerz's words are pretty specific to Allen and his project.
Sorry, your comment made me laugh. Yes, one example does indeed make a case study. It may not be scientific proof of a theory however.