I've reverted your changes. See https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/show_activity.cgi?id=156 for an example.
First, I agree that the wider communities interest in an issue should affect the importance of the issue.
However, if the you feel like the developer community isn't being responsive enough to a particular bug, then there are more effective ways to get action on the bug than bumping up the "Priority" field on bugs. Doing so will only lead to further frustration on your part.
We use that field to allocate our scarce resources (https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Bug_management/Bugzilla_usage) and direct volunteer developers when they request it. Mass changes like the ones you made should be discussed on wikitech-l and the consensus of the developer community should be respected.
Thank you,
Mark.