Batteries wrote...
From what I've seen, maybe they didn't know how much support the ME1 LIs had until these forums opened up and you could say you liked Kaidan without being crucified? I lurked on the old forums and these ones before making an account for months and I never saw any kind of support for any of them until these forums opened up.
Granted Garrus and Tali were added in because of fan support too, if you liked them or not is your own opinion.
Just my .2¢,
I was a big lurker on the old forums, I was one of those who didn't want to be bashed every time I admitted I liked Kaidan (LOLZ KAIDEN SUX I NUKED THAT CARTH WHINY ******), and I didn't like the general feel of the Mass Effect forums compared to the Dragon Age forums before that game's release. Then, once DA came out, it became popular to bash Alistair, even though he had a lot of fans, and I got tired of arguing with the Loghain defenders fast.
So I went over to the ME2 forum for the first time in a long time, and I was appalled to find out that the ME1 love interests were not going to be squadmates, and that Chris Priestly was even locking threads devoted to ME1 LIs. I started lurking more, and when the ME1 LI fans started a group over here, I joined up, and when the first Kaidan appreciation thread was started, I decided to start posting, because I wanted my voice to be heard, finally. I'm really glad so many other people have "come out" as Kaidan fans, and joined in the fun.
I really do hope that the devs are paying attention to the love that the ME1 love interests are getting now. We took our favorite characters for granted before ME2 came out, because it didn't make sense that they would just stick them into unsatisfying cameos, or that they would attempt to "make" us dislike them now. Obviously, that didn't work, and we're just as interested in our favorite characters as we were before ME2. All we can do now is wait and see if they really do take our devotion into account for the last game.