Thanks, for your candid tone, @acidyo.  I've never asked anyone on Steemit to follow me, and recognize this is bad form.  My hope is that the quality of my content, comments, or shared interests as you suggest will suffice.

I'm grateful that all the followers I have gained on this platform and others (I never asked for followers on Twitter, for example) have chosen to do so of their own free will.   What I have noticed here, and elsewhere, is that after some follow, one might not hear from them often. 

Unless a post of mine receives special attentions (curation, prize, etc...) I tend to hear from the same tight band of loyal followers.  I have found that meaningful exchanges on Discord channels as well as varying the subjects I write about—literature, culture, politics, art, philosophy, spirituality, personal home videos, etcc..—and using different tags, accordingly, helps to bring in a new audience.