I have been following this with some interest, since I am having a similar problem with the vertical spacing between notes in MKII.

In

\setupfootnotes[conversion=numbers, 

way=bytext,location=page,rule=on,bodyfont=9.6pt,

style=normal,after={\blank[3pt]}]

\starttext 

This is

\footnote{abcde.} a test

\footnote{ABCDE.} line with

\footnote{GHIJK.} footnotes.

\footnote{ghijk.}

\stoptext

I am finding that adjusting “before” and “after” affects the placement of notes on a given page as a block, but leaves the spacing between the notes on the list unchanged. So, is there a way to adjust the vertical spacing between notes in MKII?