If I saw a theme that is really interesting I definitely read the article or comment on it, otherwise I don't really care about them.

I often comment as well.
I like to see participation in anything I post, but it's fine if there isn't much.

A lot of the time I'm working my ass off for an article, especially when I have a BUSY schedule, so I get mad as hell when hardly anyone comments. People don't seem to realize how hard a lot of people on with their articles and it's really frustrating not to get many comments.

I used to think that it was important that people would comment, but now I do find it great when people comment, but it's not the most important, but if there are no fans of my articles then I find the comments more necessary

KataraLover: I completely understand where you are coming from. I put a lot of time and effort into my articles as well and it can be very disappointing without much response. I would never want to obligate people to respond as that is their choice but I do wish for more feedback as I posted the article for that reason, to get feedback and opinions from others. I appreciate when people "fan" it so I am not taking away from that, I just find the comments to be more fulfilling because it's a little more humane in my opinion. (Humane meaning having or showing compassion or benevolence; intended to have a civilizing or refining effect on people.) I have read a lot of users talk about the "community" here and I think group participation (i.e. comments) helps build a sense of community best.

I haven't written one in a while (but I have like seven waiting to be finished) but whenever I did I always got excited whenever I'd get a new comment because I liked when people told me what they thought of the article, especially if I worked particularly hard on it.

Goodness, I just checked my articles and I hadn't realized that it has been so long since I've written one and the ones that I had written are probably in serious need of updating, I need to do that sometime.