Let's see how far towards pleasant interaction can we go without sacrificing other values (such as honesty).

I rather suspect -- and this is me talking, not my interpretation of the survey data -- that this already concedes too much. I've talked to LWers who appeared to be hung up on honesty to the point of kneecapping themselves socially: not just preferring a more explicit interaction style, but outright refusing to deal with people who partake in perfectly normal social untruths. These sorts of extremes don't seem to be common, but insofar as they're a problem in some segments of the community, they're not going to be solved without at least a few concessions against existing values.

Properly exploring this would probably take a top-level post, but I think I can summarize by saying I agree with ChrisHallquist here.