I pay most attention to that little pop up window that comes up when you hover your mouse over each pic. The "views" there are like a "sale" to a businessman. The numbers there influence my posting more than the comments.
I think comments are best reserved for new posters that you want to encourage and posts of any material that you want to see more of. Use them to influence the overall direction of OCC. If a comment is not likely to change the posting habits of a particular poster (i.e. just tell him something he already knows) then it probably can be done without.
mcp1275, i look forward to your posts as you know but you and I also know we are a couple of old guys and who knows what the vast majority of lurkers really want to see. Keep posting pics you like, and the rest should take care of itself. I know if my posts are starting to go downhill before I even see the numbers because my instincts tell me
And I also have had a few posts lately that I thought were super but had very low numbers - is everyone on vacation and will things pick up after school starts again?
KLondike