Your personal preference may be getting in the way of what your community really thinks. As an example I redone my themes post profiles and even made them larger in accordance to where they were. One of the biggest compliments and most feedback I've gotten is how the post profiles stand out.
Most users now days are all about the me, me, me thing. Take social media for example. Facebook, Twitter etc... are all about highlighting one person as a general rule. I'm not referring to businesses here, just an individual account. They want to be seen, they want to have their posts, tweets, counts, likes, etc.. out there for everyone to see. Again, it's all about me, me, me..
From my past feedback, users wanted full post profile pictures, highlighted post counts, wider post profile to take up more blank space in the post. By making the profile wider I removed some of the posting area and made each post more about the user than ever before. This may not be for everyone, but like I said, it's been a pretty big hit from the feedback I've gotten.
Of course not every individual may not like one approach but in general, but what I've done has far outweighed the no compliments to a bland, stripped down user post profile.
Another issue I've seen also in the past is admins / people who are more code conscious tend to want things stripped down. Most end users however want to see more, especially if it's about them.