Let's simplify the issue dramatically:
Monks are the only Medium BAB class that lacks the ability to mitigate their Medium BAB:
> Bards: Self buff, Antagonize, UMD
> Clerics: Superb self-buffs and divine feats
> Druids: Self-buffs, shapeshifting, and shifter feats
> Rogues: Antagonize, UMD
Monks are also the only Medium BAB class that lacks a party utility outside of hitting things:
> Bards: Party buffs, Bardsong, Curse Song
> Clerics: Party buffs, Heals, turning undead.
> Druids: Party buffs, Heals.
> Rogue: Trap/Lock utility.
You can have a Bard who doesn't fight. They have enough useful skills and buffs that they can still be useful.
You can have a Cleric who doesn't fight. Caster clerics have enough buffing and healing that they are useful without picking up a weapon.
You can have a Druid who doesn't fight. Druids have enough buffing spells and skills that they can be useful without picking up a weapon.
You can have a Rogue who doesn't fight. There is a rogue tax on most of the high-level content on this server anyway that a utility rogue is worth keeping around just for locks and traps.
Monks? Monks are a combat class. Every ability they have is directly about hitting something or surviving combat to continue hitting things.
> Cleave - Hitting things
> Evasion - Surviving Combat
> Flurry of Blows - Hitting things
> Improved Unarmed Strike - Hitting things
> Stunning Fist - Hitting things
> Deflect Arrows - Not getting hit
> Fiery Fist - Hitting things
> Monk Speed - Getting into hitting range faster
> Still Mind - Surviving combat
> Purity of Body - Surviving Combat
> Improved Knockdown - Hitting things
> Wholeness of Body - Surviving Combat
> Fiery Ki Defense - Surviving Combat
> Ki Blast - Hitting things
> Improved Evasion - Surviving Combat
> Ki Strike +1 - Hitting things
> Diamond Body - Surviving Combat
> Diamond Soul - Surviving Combat
> Ki Strike +2 - Hitting things
> Quivering Palm - Hitting things
> Ki Strike +3 - Hitting things
> Empty Body - Surviving Combat (exiting it, in this case)
> Perfect Self - Surviving Combat
The core of the problem is that monks are a class entirely about hitting things. All of their class features are in support of hitting things. They are the only Medium BAB class that offers nothing to a party beyond the hitting of things, and yet because they can't mitigate their poor AB, they are also the worst at hitting things of any of those classes.
This is the problem people keep pointing at. Monks have a ton of cool stuff about them, but the primary utility they have to a party is hitting things and they aren't good at it.
The solution to this would be pathetically simple. Just give them something that knocks their AB up a few points. Make Ki Fist be an EB instead of a counts-as EB. Give them access to a version of Greater Weapon Focus. Monastic Training: +2 to hit with unarmed strikes and monk weapons. Whatever. Something. That's all they need to be a really strong class and make the effort to get up there worthwhile. Until then, this thread will keep popping up every so often whenever a new person plays their monk for a while and finds that they aren't really pulling their weight in a group.