GSOB
The @blackbird69's post i answered was about the small size of the damage
area. 'Many hundreds of sq. m.' would produce a much larger area of holes in the fuselage.
Those many hundreds of sq. m. refer to the surface of the expanding shrapnel. All thousands of fragments are distributed over this surface, 360 degrees. Hence, the fragment density cannot be high if the warhead detonated at more than 10 m from the plane. Intersection of the shrapnel front surface with the fuselage is a projection of the fuselage, i.e. it's a flat surface in order of 10 sq.m. It is physically impossible to have many fragments in the fuselage. Without accurate knowledge about the warhead and circumstances of the explosion we cannot give accurate numbers, but estimate should be in order of dozens to, may be, about a hundred of fragments that could hit the cockpit.
I have no doubt that the investigation team can find competent experts who produce more accurate data.
GSOB
It depends on the ratio of the average speed of striking elements to the difference between the speeds of the missile and it's target.
If the speed difference is much lesser than the average speed of HE (as in
the case of a MANPAD hitting into the aircraft's tail) then holes would be
densely distributed throughout a relatively small area. If the speed difference is close to the average speed of HE (that is the case of MH17) then the hit area would be greater and less dense of holes.
This is true in principle but is useless practically as you do not have any reliable data on the Buk warhead expansion after the detonation.
The fragment velocity decreases with flying distance. The shrapnel front surface expands as a square of the flying distance.
GSOB
Anyway holes must be evenly distributed throughout the damage area, not
the patches of holes as on the deck's floor.
Both your statements are assumptions. We've got not enough data. We cannot confirm or reject them.
But if you are talking about the patterns inside the cabin, the uneven hole distribution is expected due to shrapnel ricochets, path deviations and absorption by airframe structural components.