Interview committee member contacted me individually to praise me as a candidate...but I didn't get the job. Thoughts?

This is a weird situation, and though I know I won't get the result I'm wanting--i.e., actually getting the job--I wanted to know what people thought about this.

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About three weeks ago I interviewed for a position over Skype. I thought I did pretty well, but of course you never know. As a matter of course I sent out e-mails to each of the interview committee members thanking them for the interview. I'd been sent a list of the committee members with their e-mail addresses beforehand, so I didn't even think twice about it. And I've always done this when I've interviewed for a job, and I've been on the other side of the table where I've gotten thank-you e-mails or letters from candidates.

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But this time I got an e-mail back from one of the committee members--not the head of the committee or the person I'd been corresponding with, but someone I'd only met in the interview. The e-mail said basically that I'd done an "excellent job" in the interview and that I would make "a great member of the team." I've never gotten a response from an interview thank-you note--never even expected one--and of course getting that e-mail made me pretty optimistic about getting the job. Unfortunately, it's now been three weeks since the interview, and the committee made it clear that they wanted to hire someone quickly, so I can only assume I wasn't the successful candidate.

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I'm wondering now about this, particularly:

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1. This wasn't very professional of the committee member, was it? I'd never think of responding to a thank-you note for an interview, and if I did, I'd limit my comments to "thank you for the note". I certainly wouldn't be saying anything to imply that the candidate might be getting the job, even if we'd all agreed they were. Every time I've been involved in an interview process I've been told to not say anything like that to the candidate until we made an offer. I mean, has anyone else ever gotten a response from a (I assume) rogue committee member?
2. On the other hand...was this the committee member's way of saying "we're not going to hire you for this position, but keep applying to other jobs at our organization because you're a good candidate?" Like I say, I've never gotten a response like this.
3. I've sometimes heard advice that if you're an unsuccessful candidate for a job, especially if you think you had a good chance at getting it, you should ask the organization's HR why you didn't get it and what you can do better next time. I've been way too chicken to ask that in the past. But, considering what the committee member wrote, is this an opportunity to ask those questions?

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