My forum reading generally ties in with how busy I am at work. If I'm busy then I won't read them at all, if I have nothing to do then it's either this or my book of puzzles. I rarely read the forums when I'm not at work because I would rather be playing
As far as the game is concerned, I think vent has had quite an effect, both positively and negatively. Personally, I prefer to not have to read what other people type, but I also don't like to talk in vent so usually I listen to vent and respond in chat.
I noticed something interesting and am wondering if this is true... it seems to me that people in WoW talk in vent more then people in EQ2 and people in EQ2 type more then people in WoW. In WoW it seemed like every pug you joined someone would be offering a vent server so that we wouldn't have to type. In EQ2 I haven't yet had someone in a pug mention joining vent, although I haven't pug'd much so that might be a skewed perception.