Opinions needed, PLEASE!

I know that one of my bloggy friends has asked this question before... but I don't remember who... or what the answer was.... sooo as I am too lazy to go through everyone on my blogrolls history... I am just going to ask myself!

Do people go back and read the comment section that they have left a comment on to see if there is a response... or do you want someone to go to your blog and perhaps leave a message that isn't appropriate(or at least isn't about that particular post) on your last blog?
I know that there is a way to attach your email to your blog, so that when you leave a message on some one's comments they can just "respond" to the notification email. And just to throw my opinion in there, I am connected this way if anyone ever wants to respond to a comment I leave. I learned how to do this from a Mama's Losin It tutorial (which is actually a SITS tutorial, I guess...) BUT most of the people who comment on my blog are not connected in that way.
Ok have I thoroughly confused everyone?

The question is how would you like to get a response from a comment?

I often want to respond to people... but am not sure how to go about it... and then I end up not responding at all.... and that makes me feel bad.. or like I don't care about the comments... which is certainly not how I feel.

All of this comes from me not knowing how I should respond to comments in general, but it became very apparent to me when I wanted to thank everyone who left me kind comments on my Surprise! blog. Those comments meant the world to me because I was feeling a little overwhelmed and somewhat exposed at the time, so for now I will just say Thank You So Much from the bottom of my heart!
I can not explain how much I appreciate the friendships that I have acquired through this whole blogging thing. I know that I am nowhere near the consistent blogger that I was hoping to be when I first started this blog, but every post I do put up is straight from my heart, and I really can't describe the feeling I get from knowing that (although they are few) I do have a few really great people out there who are actually interested in the things that I might have to say!!
thanks again everyone!!
oh yeah, and don't forget to answer my question in my comment section if you wouldn't mind!! : )

Today I am grateful for the friendships that I have made through this fascinating world of blogging!