Are all STOP signs created equal?

I used to think so. Stop means stop, after all. But I am not so sure anymore, after I started riding my bike on Minuteman Bikeway more often.

Stop signs have obviously their purpose and even on a bicycle I obey the rules by stopping at them. However, the stop signs in places where a bike path crosses the street are a little bit different animals. Here is why:

1. Riding on a bike path and approaching an intersection with a stop sign I'm required to stop my bike completely and verify if the road is clear on both sides before crossing it and continuing riding on the other side.
2. At the same time, at least here in Massachusetts, drivers are required to yield to everyone (pedestrians or cyclists) who intend to cross the street, even if there is no stop or yield sign displayed.
3. This creates a situation where both cyclists and drivers stop looking at each other, trying to figure out who would move first.

I noticed, while riding on Minuteman Bikeway to work every day that about 99% of drivers stop at the crosswalks seeing cyclists and pedestrians attempting to cross the street. This is good. However, because of it, the cyclists here got trained that all stop signs at Minuteman Bikeway intersections are only a "suggestion" to stop and most of them don't stop at all. Either they simply slow down significantly and after making sure that the road is clear, proceed to the other side of the intersection, or they don't even slow down at all, assuming that cars will stop for them. While the latter behavior may be just plain stupid or at least risky, it seems to me that cyclists who approach the intersection and seeing cars stopped there, ignore the stop signs and cross the street as quickly as possible, are actually saving those drivers time. We often hear from the motorists that "cyclists should obey all traffic laws to gain respect of motorists" but this situation makes me think that sometimes the same drivers would want us to break the law and get out of their way ASAP.