I do typically follow people who follow me after they've read and clapped on my own work. However, if someone follows me but I see no sign of them clapping or responding on my writing, I am more circumspect. I will check out their profiles and writing themes before deciding whether or nor to follow them.

I seem to attract a lot of folks who seem to be self-help wannabe gurus and those who are obviously reliant upon AI content generation. Plus, there are those who just want to troll my writer-activism pieces and tell me how wrong I am and that my lived experience isn't real. Throw into the mix those folks who seem to think this is some kind of hookup platform and you've accounted for more than half of my new follows all combined.

Of course, the trolls and the skeazers usually end up blocked.