Purely out of curiosity, does anyone actually tend to go out of their way to email/otherwise contact the people who do this stuff, beyond commenting in readily available comment fields at the bottom of some blogs?

I'm sure they do.
I think fanart of comics are usually sent by e-mail. And some authors of the comics I read have mentioned getting emails in their update posts.

I meant anyone as in you guys. I never do it so I'm wondering what kind of person tends to. Obviously it happens in general!

I'll email Ryan North, writer of qwantz, once in awhile. I'll email him after a particularly good strip, and he's good about answering his fanmail. <3

Webcomics, nope. Blogs, depends really, I blog for Eve Online so that puts me in contact with other bloggers who write on the same topic. I've exchanged email contact with a World of Warcraft blogger once who asked for reader emails. But that's really been it.

I emailed him after I got my Utahraptor shirt, which I'm wearing RIGHT NOW, to thank him for the other free goodies he sent with it.

Poor shirt has been too well loved, and I don't think they make this design anymore.

Wait, a UTAHRAPTOR shirt?

Something is amiss. I do not have it.

It's just panel-4 Utahraptor on a burgundy T. It's by far my favorite piece of clothing since I lost my old-school Star Fox shirt.

Maybe we should e-mail him and ask him to bring it back.