Thank you so much for your thoughtful and helpful article, Darren! As a brand new writer on Medium, I've been trying to figure out the culture and it seems everyone has their own approach to followers. Some writers have nearly an equal number of followers and following, using the follow-for-follow approach. I agree wholeheartedly that I want people to follow me because they enjoy my writing and want to see more of it. I don't want them to follow me simply as a courtesy. With your words of wisdom, I feel better about sticking with this approach. Thanks again--and following you now!