I sometimes upvote thread starters, but not in the same way I upvote answers (obviously). If I like the problem the OP is trying to solve and he has put effort in the question, I will upvote it. Sometimes I upvote them for no conscious reason. It depends. I rarely downvote them, though, unless they are blatantly aggressive or something.
That said, I did not see the thread AlphaProgDes is referring to, for the very good reason that I was.. well.. sleeping. So I have an alibi 
