I have a fairly hefty flist and I like seeing what people post and what they are up to, even if they never comment on my stories or do it semi-regularly. Some make an exception only for stories they really like, so I may hear from them once every 8 months or something. I think it's interesting to know what they like.

I'm quite happy with my flist now. I had a run of fair weather friends/fakes in early January who either never friended me or unfriended me, and I've seen them squabble with others on lj since then, which makes me feel bad for their other victims, but in a way sort of makes it less personal. I'm not responsible for the crappy/user behavior of the people, so I can feel very unruffled by it, if that makes sense.

I am cleaning my lj now but I only remove people currently who have never friended me, or I put into a filter anyone who has a pattern of unpleasantness or whom I need a break from. I don't want to read someone continually ranting about bad fic or whatever, so if they do it, I can filter them now and never have to read them without unfriending them. I'm quite ruthless about it, but it's my lj time and I'm not going to spend it wallowing in unpleasantness.