"As long as I'm up-voted then I'll keep doing it."

I'm not sure this is a good trigger. I think you should keep doing it as long as you like doing it, regardless of upvotes.

I would think your server logs would be enough of an indicator of interest.

Maybe you can get some help from http://timesvr.com

Any plans to summarize or highlight the comments you find most interesting?

I've thought about that. If I see interesting comments I may work it into the summary with a citation. My first choice would be to direct people back to HN for the article discussion.