[p1esk]

Most research will be ignored if it does not have good results, regardless of whether it's novel, or whether it's DL. In fact, a lot of recently published DL research is ignored for exactly this reason. Top DL conferences are so competitive currently that the quality bar is pretty high.

There are lots of ideas floating around in AI field. Some of them might be good, most are not. If you have an idea and want others to look at it you better demonstrate how it outperforms every other method when applied to some task.

[BlueTemplar]

OP's point is that research is/was being ignored despite having good results. But this is normal, it just takes time, and a critical mass of good results for most researchers to switch to the new paradigm. (A decade is a very short time in the history of science.)

[jabl]

Like they say, science progresses one funeral at a time.