A small company, right...
They are estimated to be worth billions of dollars. (2-4billion $ according to a forbes staff article)
It is purely their decision as a for profit commercial corporation not to hire more staff.
Your post is more damning than helping valve, because it is implying that despite their huge profits they are still not willing to spend a portion of it on proper customer support staff.
Iirc, that valuation is a few years ago. Valve user grew much more now with Dota2, CS leading the charge. Not to mention the growth of PC gaming in general and the various, more robust monetary schemes ( trading cards ) in place than before.
Valve is tremendously loaded. Valve is inadequately staffed by choice. Gabe once compare the profits per employee and says Valve is better than Google in this metric. It's basically Valve like to have their cake and eat it.
It was just in this very thread you have people asking for patinence with a big company like Valve, which is ironic because it seems both categories suit them whenever it is convienent. Far too many people sees PC gaming and Steam as one, when there are other services and hemisphere around.
Like I said, I will happily pay a premium to buy shares of Valve if they are publicly traded. Incredible branding it had forged in such a short time. I will like to board the Valve train, Gabe. Please.